Kathrin Marchand targets Paralympic rowing podium, three years to the day since suffering a stroke

Kathrin Marchand is making her Paralympic Games debut in Paris – but the rower is no stranger to the pressure of a multi-sport event.

Marchand competed at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games, before retiring from rowing to focus on her medical studies. But then, on 1 September 2021, aged 31, Marchand had a stroke.

“I didn’t recognise it in the days before, but I remember I had a bad headache and my neck hurt a lot,” Marchand said. The stroke affected her mobility and vision and, while she continues to practise medicine, she can work only part-time because of problems with concentration.

“I look like a healthy person,” Marchand said. “I’m classified because my left side is kind of numb. I have problems with the grip on my left hand and the right-left coordination is difficult. “Also, I don’t see what’s on my left. I see too much to be classified as a visual impairment, but it’s a problem when racing. I don’t see what the others are doing. I prefer to have my competitors on the right side.”

The stroke made her think about her life in a new way and prompted her to pick up an oar once more. “The Olympics is such a great experience and I had so much fun,” she said. “It’s such a big event and I thought, if I have the chance, I can try to do the Paralympics just to have fun and enjoy sport.”

The Olympic Games had not been her original aim either. Marchand began rowing in 2005 but reaching the pinnacle of the sport was not something she thought achievable. “When I was younger, the athletes that would go to the world championships or the Olympics were my idols,” she said. “And it feels weird because I never imagined being in this position.”

Katrin Marchand and her crewmates qualified Germany’s PR3 mixed coxed four for Paris 2024 by taking bronze at the 2023 World Rowing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. Since then, the crew have raced only once, finishing fourth at the third World Cup of the 2024 season in Poznan, Poland in June.

She did not win an Olympic medal in her two appearances, but a Paralympic medal seems within her grasp, despite her preparation being disrupted when she broke a rib in March.

“We’ve always been on the podium, the past years since I was in the boat,” Marchand said. “We missed the podium in Poznan, maybe because of my rib fracture, but I think we’re in good form to compete.”

And she is very conscious that finals day, Sunday 1 September, marks the third anniversary of her stroke. “Let’s make the bad day into a good day,” she said.

Copy thanks to OIS news service