Adaptive heats show dominant crews

These athletes race over a 1,000m distance. In a new initiative the rowers began in the fixed starting blocks, finishing at the 1,000m mark of the 2,000m Malta Regatta Course. This ensured that the start was fair (rather than a floating start from the half-way point) and also made it possible for integration into the main racing schedule, thus a smoother timeframe of racing and television coverage.

Today the rowers faced slight head wind conditions with a slight bobble in the water. The racing overall took the form of a dominant crew out in front with the rest of the field unable to hold a similar speed. This indicated a mixture of seasoned adaptive rowers and some crews newer to the competitive adaptive scene.

Arms and Shoulder Men’s Single Sculls (ASM1x) – Heats

This event has added in the use of some shoulder swing, giving these athletes more reach, power and a longer stroke. Great Britain’s Tom Aggar is the current Paralympic Champion and he raced in the first of two heats. The rule here was to finish first for direct advancement to the A-final. Aggar continued his unbroken winning streak with a definitive win in Heat One, finishing 12 seconds ahead of Russia. Aggar goes to the final as the favourite.

In his first year on the international adaptive rowing scene, Antony Tinga of New Zealand is stepping up with every 1000m race he competes in. Tinga lead Heat Two from start to finish leaving second placed Spain with no choice but to accept second. Tinga will now meet Aggar in Saturday’s final.

Results Heat One: GBR – UKR – AUS – USA – POL – KOR

Results Heat Two: NZL – ESP – ITA – RUS – GER – BLR

Tom Aggar (GBR) – Heat One – 1st
“I’m really pleased with the result and going straight to the final.  It was hard because of the strong head wind.  I started fast and controlled from the 250m mark onwards.” Tom Aggar

Antony Tinga (NZL) – Heat 2 – 1st
“It all went to plan.  I focused on what I was doing, it was harder with the head wind but that was the same for everyone.” Antony Tinga

Trunk & Arms Mixed Double Sculls (TAMix2x) – Heats

This race allows athletes to use their arms as well as a body swing. With a line-up of 11 nations, divided into two heats, the formula for these athletes was to finish first if they wanted a direct path to the final. In Heat One Ukraine’s Dmytro Ivanov and Iryna Kyrychenko recorded the fastest qualifying time. Kyrychenko raced last year at the Paralympic Games and has a new partner in Ivanov this year. This is their first international race together. The combination must be working well as they finished ahead of Paralympic finalists, Poland and Great Britain. Ukraine go directly to the final.

Heat Two was won by Brazilians Elton Santana and Josiane Lima. The duo finished with bronze at the Paralympic Games and are known for their fast starts. Today they didn’t disappoint with a hefty starting pace that made the rest of the field look like they were standing still. The Brazilians used a high 52 stroke rate to win by a clear 16 seconds.

Results Heat One: UKR – POL – ITA – GBR – RUS – KOR

Results Heat Two: BRA – BLR – ISR – FRA – IRL

Dmytro Ivanov, Iryna Kyrychenko (UKR) – Heat 1 – 1st
“It was very hard.  We’ve been rowing together for three years and want to win the final.  I’ve been skiing and swimming before and participated in four Paralympic Games, three winter Games, and last year in Beijing in rowing.” Iryna Kyrychenko

Elton Santana, Josiane Lima (BRA) – Heat 2 – 1st
“We rowed a very good heat where we could apply what we had learned in training.” Elton Santana
“We have now been rowing together for two years but don’t train together all the time.  We can only meet once a month because we live so far away from each other, one in the north of Brazil, the other in the south. And moreover, we don’t have same the types of boat to row in, not a double like we have here.” Josiane Lima

Legs, Trunk & Arms Mixed Coxed Four (LTAMix4+) – Heats

Like the double, this race had two heats with 11 countries entered. The top boat only from each heat would get a direct path to the final. Italy set the pace in Heat One coxed by Alessandro Franzetti. There has been only one change in this crew that became Paralympic Champions last year. Today they got out ahead of Australia and kept the pace going despite no immediate challenges coming their way.

Heat Two recorded the fastest qualifying time with Paralympic bronze medallists Great Britain taking the lead and racing hard to push away from Germany. Sitting in stroke seat was Naomi Riches, with Victoria Hansford in bow. These are the two continuing rowers from last year’s Paralympic crew with Riches moving from the middle of the boat to set the stroke rate. Germany remained in touch but Great Britain had just that bit more power to stay in front.

Great Britain and Italy will meet in Sunday’s final and this is shaping up to be an exciting race as times are close especially amongst those who will race again in the repechage. 

Results Heat One: ITA – AUS – USA – RUS – FRA – POL

Results Heat Two: GBR – GER – CAN – UKR – IRL

Paola Protopapa, Luca Agoletto, Andrea Bozzato, Graziana Saccocci, Alessandro Franzetti (ITA) – Heat 1 – 1st
“We have a new athlete in the boat, Andrea just joined 15 days ago. We didn’t know what to expect as there are two boats we never raced before, Australia and France.  We could expect anything and therefore took a very good start which allowed us to control the race afterwards. We look forward to the final. Great Britain is very strong, there is also USA and Canada but everything is possible.”  Paola Protopapa

Victoria Hansford, James Roe, David Smith, Naomi Riches, Rhiannon Jones (GBR) – Heat 2 – 1st
“As we had seen that some crews had put down very fast times, we didn’t know what to expect.  We knew we wanted to win but focused on our own boat.  We did our job, won our heat but there is room for improvement for the final.” Naomi Riches