From Tokyo 2020, looking forward: Para rowing

The 2022 World Rowing season is bearing down on us, and as we move towards the first races of the international season we are reviewing a selection of our Olympic and Paralympic boat classes. The end of an Olympic and Paralympic cycle always means changes are coming – coaches change the nations they are working with, some athletes retire, some athletes stick around, but focus more on their family life or academic life.

Para rowing broke onto the international scene two decades ago this year. In those 20 years these boat classes have really come of age and the number of events keeps on growing to keep up with demand.

In a number of ways it is trend-setting with mixed crew boat classes the norm right from the beginning and heading to the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, the new boat class of the PR3 mixed double sculls being added.

Here’s what’s been going on in para rowing through 2021 and then we take a look into the crystal ball for the 2022 season.

What went on in 2021?

European Rowing Championships

Finals day opened with a win for Birgit Skarstein of Norway in the PR1 women’s single sculls. Skarstein’s win continued to cement her dominance in this boat class and left Israel’s Moran Samuel to again contemplate silver. Anna Sheremet of Ukraine was third. The men’s single followed in a similar vein with Roman Polianskyi of Ukraine remaining firmly in the gold medal spot. But Great Britain’s newcomer, Benjamin Pritchard gave Polianskyi a solid run for his money in the silver medal spot. Germany’s Marcus Klemp was very happy with bronze.

Great Britain’s Lauren Rowles and Laurence Whiteley dominated the PR2 mixed double sculls and set themselves up as the ones to beat in this lead up to the Paralympic Games. Behind them the Dutch, French and Polish fought it out for the remaining medals with Poland only just missing out.

The reigning World Champions, Great Britain staged a commanding race in the PR3 mixed coxed four. Behind them France and Ukraine had to settle for the lesser medals. At the end of the race bow of the British boat, Ellen Buttrick commented, “We came to set a new standard and show we hadn’t lost anything over lockdown. I think our result which is not that far off our world record, shows we are on the right track towards Tokyo.”

Final Paralympic qualification regatta

Just a couple of months before the Tokyo Paralympic Games, the Final Paralympic Qualification Regatta was held in Gavirate, Italy. Six places were available with Brazil claiming two spots. Claudia Cicero Sabino won the PR1 women’s single sculls. Sabino was sixth at the Rio Paralympics and has had a long rowing career going back to 2007. Brazil also qualified in the PR3 mixed coxed four when they finished second behind Canada.

Marcus Klemp, who medalled at the European Championships was first in the PR1 men’s single sculls to qualify. The final two qualifying boats were Italy’s Chiara Nardo and Gian Filippo Mirabile and the Australian PR2 mixed double sculls of Kathryn Ross and new partner Simon Albury.

The Paralympic Games

The winning streak for Birgit Skarstein in the PR1 women’s single sculls continued and gave her, her first Paralympic medal. And she made it gold. This meant Moran Samuel had to settle for silver with Nathalie Benoit of France earning a well-deserved bronze. All three of these rowers are very experienced and it showed a real coming-of-age in the para sport.

The PR1 men’s single sculls final was a nail-biting flurry with newcomer from Spain, Javier Munoz leading at the start. Munoz has come from para canoeing and no one was expecting his early lead. Then Roman Polianskyi, perhaps not unexpectedly, got into the lead with Erik Horrie of Australia and Rene Pereira of Brazil holding on. But Horrie and Pereira are Paralympians with Horrie medalling in 2016. Polianskyi claimed gold with Horrie and Pereira proving their experience by taking silver and bronze respectively.

Great Britain proved too strong for the rest of the field in the PR2 mixed double sculls. But Lauren Rowles and Laurence Whiteley first had to overtake China’s Liu and Jiang to get into the gold medal spot. Then Annika van der Meer and Corne de Koning of the Netherlands overtook a fading China to claim silver with Liu and Jiang holding on to the bronze.

The PR3 mixed coxed four had the British, as expected, taking gold. Great Britain was the defending Paralympic Champions and have all but owned this boat class. But since 2016 they have seen some line-up changes and there was some questions about whether the current crew had the same depth of skill. They did and took gold over the United States in second and France in the bronze medal spot.

Onto greener pastures (or blue-er waters)

• Annika van der Meer of the Netherlands is hanging up her sculls. Van der Meer has always said that being a medical doctor comes first and her skills were in demand during the Covid Pandemic. These demands remain.
• From the PR3 mixed coxed four, James Fox of Great Britain retires with two Paralympic gold medals to his name.
• After competing in two Paralympic Games, Andrew Todd of Canada is calling it a day. Todd won bronze at the Rio Paralympics in the mixed coxed four.
• Danielle Hansen of the United States is retiring, but remaining firmly involved in rowing. She’s off to work for Hydrow.

  

Crystal ball gazing

It looks like some of the big players are back for more in 2022. If she’s not training for the winter Paralympics, expect to see Birgit Skarstein back in the women’s single. And there’s every indication that Roman Polianskyi is continuing in the men’s single. Word is he’s found a safe place to train outside of Ukraine. So don’t expect to see any big shake-ups at the front of these two boat classes. But there’s always someone up-and-coming and for the men it could well be Benjamin Pritchard. For the women definitely watch out for Anna Sheremet.

Who can knock Great Britain off the top spot in the PR2 mixed double and the PR3 mixed coxed four? Both events look securely in British hands. But in the four with James Fox retiring maybe a new boat will come through. France is looking good as they put their energy into being in top form for the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

But the big question will be who will pull out in front in the new Paralympic boat class? The PR3 mixed double sculls is an open slate and there’s no doubt it will be hotly contested.

On the 2022 Calendar:

2022 World Rowing Cup I – Belgrade, Serbia, 27-29 May
2022 World Rowing Cup II – Poznan, Poland, 17-19 June
2022 World Rowing Cup III – Lucerne, Switzerland, 8-10 July
2022 European Rowing Championships – Munich, Germany, 11-14 August
2022 World Rowing Championships – Racice, Czech Republic, 18-25 September