Fantastic finals day for para rowing at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games rowing regatta completed three days of racing at the new Sea Forest Waterway rowing venue with Great Britain, Norway and Ukraine winning gold medals. Overall ten countries won medals out of the four boat classes raced.

One of the most impressive races of the day was the PR1 women’s single sculls. Won by Birgit Skarstein, the Norwegian took the lead at the start and with just a quarter of the race rowed she moved to an open water lead over her competition. Skarstein continued to grow her led through the race to win her first Paralympic gold in rowing. Moran Samuel of Israel took silver and Nathalie Benoit of France won bronze.

Roman Polianskyi of Ukraine successfully defended his 2016 Paralympic title to win the PR1 men’s single sculls. Polianskyi has been dominant in the single since Rio. Australia’s Erik Horrie raced into the silver medal spot. This is Horrie’s third Paralympic silver and it came after the Australian had to get ahead of newcomer Javier Munoz of Spain and Brazil’s Rene Pereira in the final. Pereira finished with a well-received bronze, the first time Brazil has medalled at the Paralympics since 2008.

The British PR2 mixed double sculls of Lauren Rowles and Laurence Whiteley successfully defended their Paralympic title. Rowles and Whiteley used a calculated and well-rehearsed rowing plan to finish in commanding style. The Netherlands’ Annika van der Meer and Corne de Koning came through to silver after overtaking the fast-starting Chinese duo who earned bronze.

Great Britain’s second gold came in the PR3 mixed coxed four when they won by an open water lead and continued an unbeaten winning streak that goes back to the London 2012 Paralympic Games. The crew of Ellen Buttrick, Giedre Rakauskaite, James Fox, Oliver Stanhope and coxswain Erin Kennedy had just Fox as a returner from the Rio Paralympic winning crew. The United States finished in second and retained their same silver medal finish that they achieved at the Rio Paralympics. France was in third, their first time medalling in this boat class.

This is the fourth time that rowing has been part of the Paralympic Games. It debuted in Beijing 2008 and the quality of the competition has grown steadily since. Originally raced over 1000m, this is the first Paralympic Games that para rowing has been raced over 2000m. The change to 2000m was made in 2017 bringing para rowing in line with classic rowing.