Paralympic Best Times tumble in Rio 2016 Paralympic rowing finals

For immediate release
Rio de Janeiro, 11 September 2016

The 2016 Paralympic Games para-rowing regatta in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil finished today with Great Britain dominating the regatta by winning three of the four boat classes on flat, calm water at the spectacular Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoa venue.

British crews began the golden run with Rachel Morris winning in the para women’s single sculls. Morris came through to take gold in a time that earned her the Paralympic Games Best Time. China’s Lili Wang took silver and the bronze medal went to the reigning World Champion Moran Samuel of Israel.

The para mixed double sculls of Great Britain also won gold. Lauren Rowles and Laurence Whiteley, racing in their first Paralympic Games, held off the Chinese crew of Liu Shuang and Fei Tianming which took silver and Perle Bouge and Stephane Tardieu of France who took bronze.

Great Britain’s third Paralympic title came in the para mixed coxed four with the crew of Grace Clough, Daniel Brown, Pamela Relph, James Fox and coxswain Oliver James defending their 2012 Paralympic Games title. The British crew finished first ahead of the United States and Canada. The United States took silver in a very tight finish with Canada.

The para men’s single sculls gold went to Roman Polianskyi of Ukraine. Polianskyi won over the reigning World Champion Erik Horrie of Australia who took silver. The 2008 Paralympic Champion Tom Aggar of Great Britain won bronze. Polianskyi set a new Paralympic Best Time.

International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Sir Phillip Craven, IPC CEO Xavier Gonzalez and Rio2016 President Carlos Nuzman were present today for the finals.

This is the third time that para-rowing has been part of the Paralympic Games. It debuted in Beijing 2008 and the quality of the competition has grown steadily since. This Paralympic Games para-rowing regatta went from 9-11 September 2016 with heats, repechages then finals for the four boat classes.

For race results, live race tracker, photos, live blog and race reports go to www.worldrowing.com