Para-rowing finals set at 2015 World Rowing Championships

For immediate release
Aiguebelette, 2 September 2015

The para-rowing finals are now set for the 2015 World Rowing Championships in Aiguebelette, France. This event started off with the largest para-rowing entry ever seen at a World Rowing Championships indicating the growth of the sport and also that this regatta doubles as the main qualification regatta for the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games.

The team from Great Britain has put themselves in a strong position with boats in all four finals. This is led by the rowers in their para mixed coxed four (LTAMix4+) who are the World and Paralympic Champions, and have not lost a race since 2012. The British crew will meet, for the first time in the final, the crew from the United States who recorded a very fast time in their semi-final. They will also be up against last year’s silver medallists Italy.

Looking very impressive in the para women’s single sculls (ASW1x) is Moran Samuel of Israel. Samuel dominated her semi-final and will go on to meet the reigning World Champion Birgit Skarstein of Norway in the final as well as the ever-improving Rachel Morris of Great Britain. Morris started competing in para-rowing last year with a fifth-place finish in 2014 and this year she has been improving with every race.

The para men’s single sculls (ASM1x) attracted the biggest field with 24 countries entered. This has been narrowed down to the final six with two-time World Champion Erik Horrie of Australia, the favourite to retain his position. Horrie’s regular rival Alexey Chuvashev of Russia will be aiming to dethrone the Australian hoping to win a World Championships title.

The para mixed double sculls (TAMix2x) sees the return of 2014 World Champions Gavin Ellis and Kathryn Ross of Australia. They are likely to find their strongest competition coming from Brazil’s Josiane Lima and Michel Gomes Pessanha.

The top eight boats in each para-rowing boat class will qualify for the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games, thus all six finalists have already guaranteed their boat for their respective country. Horrie commented after today’s race, “Qualification is stage one of this championships and it is excellent to qualify the boat for Australia.” Skarstein added, “It feels incredible to be qualified for Rio. It has been a goal since the London Olympics and I am really excited that it will be my first Paralympics.”

The para-rowing finals begin at 16:40 CET and will be live streamed on www.worldrowing.com. The B-finals will also be live streamed beginning at 16:08 CET.

For results, schedules, full race reports, photos and live blogging go to www.worldrowing.com.