Rowers to watch: Paris 2024 Paralympic Games

The attention of rowing fans returns to Vaires-sur-Marne soon as the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games kick off. After an action-packed week at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, it’s the turn of para-rowing stars to shine. Here are the rowers to watch at the Paralympic Games.

PR1 Women’s Single Sculls (PR1 W1x)
12 entries

Leading the list of entries for the PR1 women’s single sculls is reigning Paralympic, world and European champion Birgit Skarstein of Norway. Until the 2024 European Rowing Championships, Skarstein had not been beaten since the final of the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. In Szeged in April she shrugged off the loss in the preliminary race to win yet another major championships. But Skarstein was third at World Rowing Cup II, meaning that Israeli Moran Samuel – who has now crossed the line in front of the Norwegian twice this season – will be coming to Paris full of confidence she could improve on her silver medal from the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games.

Other scullers to watch for in Paris include France’s Tokyo bronze medallist Nathalie Benoit, China’s Lili Wang, and Ukraine’s Anna Sheremet, who will also be eyeing up a place on the podium.

PR1 Men’s Single Sculls (PR1 M1x)
12 entries

While world, Paralympic and European champion Roman Polianskyi of Ukraine is certainly starting the regatta as the favourite, the field behind him has closed up in recent years and there are several scullers who will fancy their chances in Paris. Chief among these are Great Britain’s Benjamin Pritchard, and Italy’s Giacomo Perini. Perini, the 2022 European champion, has been consistently first or second on the podium since his debut in the event, usually with Pritchard in third. But Pritchard earned his first-ever international win at 2024 World Rowing Cup III in Poznan, beating Perini by six seconds to show that he is coming into Paris in the best form of his career.

Australian Erik Horrie has three Paralympic silver medals in his cabinet already, but so far has not been able to add gold. The 44-year-old is one of the most experienced in the field and can definitely not be counted out in Paris. Other possible finalists include Spain’s Javier Garcia Martinez, France’s Alexis Sanchez, Germany’s Marcus Klemp and Israel’s Shmuel Daniel – with none of the other entrants out of the running either.

PR2 Mixed Double Sculls (PR2 Mix2x)
9 entries

In the PR2 mixed double sculls it is impossible to look past the British duo of Lauren Rowles and Gregg Stevenson when identifying the likely favourites. Rowles is already a two-time Paralympic champion in this event, winning her first title at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games at the age of only 18. Eight years on, she is undefeated in this boat class. Rowles took a break after the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and returned to competition in 2023 with new partner Gregg Stevenson. The duo set a world best time in their first regatta together and have lowered the mark twice more since then.

The chasing pack is a diverse mix of experienced and newer athletes, with a number of rowers having competed at several Paralympic Games while others are making their debuts. So look out for the likes of China’s Tokyo bronze medallists Liu Shuang and Jiang Jijian; the Dutch duo of Corne de Koning and Esther van der Loos, reunited after van der Loos stepped back from rowing after Rio; and evergreen Poles Jolanta Majka and Michal Gadowski. But don’t count out the French, with Perle Bouge appearing at her fourth Paralympic Games alongside five-time Winter Paralympic champion, and summer debutant, Benjamin Daviet, or newcomers Ireland.

PR3 Mixed Double Sculls (PR3 Mix2x)
11 entries

Whoever wins the PR3 mixed double sculls in Paris will become the first-ever Paralympic champions in this boat class, as the event makes its debut. Two nations – India and Thailand – will also make their Paralympic rowing debuts by fielding boats in this event.

World champions Nikki Ayers and Jed Altschwager of Australia are the world champions and world best time holders, and looked extremely good winning 2024 World Rowing Cup III. But the relative newness of the PR3 Mix2x means the chasing pack is unpredictable.

Great Britain’s European champions, Samuel Murray and Annabel Caddick, benefit from their nation’s pedigree in para-rowing and have got closer to the Aussies this season compared to 2023. But the exciting new German combination, Hermine Krumbein and Jan Helmich, are also very much in the mix. So are the young Ukrainians, Dariia Kotyk and Stanislav Samoliuk – partners in life as well as rowing, after Samoliuk’s proposal on the European championship podium. Meanwhile Guylaine Marchand and Laurent Cadot will be hoping for a home advantage.

PR3 Mixed Coxed Four (PR3 Mix4+)
10 entries

If there’s one thing that’s been a given in the past 14 years, it’s that Great Britain will win the PR3 mixed coxed four. Despite regular crew changes the British boat has proven simply unbeatable in the last three Paralympic Games as well as world and European championships. The 2024 version of the crew includes two reigning Paralympic champions, coxswain Erin Kennedy and rower Giedre Rakauskaite.

The USA look like the pick of the bunch trying to upset the British streak. Second to the British boat at the 2023 World Rowing Championships, a slightly reshuffled line-up were again second at 2024 World Rowing Cup III, with France in third. The USA were also silver medallists in Tokyo, but have no survivors from that crew, while France’s Margot Boulet and Remy Taranto return from winning Paralympic bronze in 2021.

Germany could also be up there fighting for the medals, with four of their World Rowing Championship bronze-medallist crew still in the boat for Paris. Valentin Luz is the newcomer, replacing Jan Helmich after the latter moved into the PR3 Mix2x.