Para PR1 Men’s Single Sculls (PR1 M1x) – Finals

A-Final

There was no doubt that Roman Polianskyi of Ukraine was the favourite. He is the Paralympic Champion and won at World Rowing Cup II last month. Polianskyi, however, was beaten by Erik Horrie of Australia at the World Championships. Horrie is not racing here and Polianskyi got away at a 41 stroke rate in the lead. Showing some great speed was Rene Pereira of Brazil who slotted into second. Then came Lithuania’s Augustas Navickas who had come to this final via yesterday’s repechage.

Polianskyi continued to lead through the middle of the race with Pereira holding on to second. Pereira finished fifth at last year’s World Rowing Championships and has been racing internationally since 2015. He was managing to not let Ukraine get too far ahead and was giving his best. Polianskyi was at a 35 stroke rate coming into the final sprint with Pereira at a 30 stroke rate. The order did not change.

Results: UKR, BRA, LTU, ISR, POL, BEL

Roman Polianskyi, Ukraine, Gold
“It was really good today to race this competition. I was born for fighting and I am looking forward to World Rowing Championships.”

Rene Pereira, Brazil, Silver
“I enjoyed the race! The distance between us from World Rowing Championships was 30 seconds, I’ve been able to reduce this down to 10 seconds. My training has been going well.”

Augustas Navickas, Lithuania, Bronze
“I was expecting tough competition today, I know that Rene and Roman are very fast. My main competitor was Jaroslaw from Poland. I remember a few years ago I was behind him, so it’s good to see my progression. My next goal is the World Rowing Championships and to qualify for Tokyo.”

Re-watch the race here!

B-final

A two boat race between Zsolt Peto of Hungary and Johannes Schmidt of Germany saw Schmidt take the win. The two raced each other at World Rowing Cup II last month Schmidt taking eighth and Peto finishing eleventh. In the repechage yesterday, Peto beat Schmidt by a second.

Results: GER, HUN