Daily Digest: Racing for medal finals in Vaires-sur-Marne

Day two at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in Paris saw the eight repechages take place as crews looked to secure the remaining places in tomorrow’s finals at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games Regatta.

Benoit books final

There was absolutely no doubt about the leader in the first race of the day as France’s Nathalie Benoit sculled her way to a place in the final at the front of the field, much to the delight of the French supporters in the grandstands. Meanwhile, the race was on for the second place and it was eventually Brazil’s Claudia Cicero Dos Santos that secured the place, racing here at her fifth Paralympic Regatta.

In the second repechage, the reigning Paralympic and World Champion, Norway’s Birgit Skarstein flew out of the blocks to secure the early lead. There was absolutely no catching her, but Seejong Kim of the Republic of Korea took the remaining qualifying place for the medal final.

Speaking after the race, Benoit indicated what changed from the heat:

“I had to work in this race. I changed a few things from yesterday. I wasn’t very happy with the feelings I had. It’s annoying to have to race the repechage because it’s really tiring, but at the same time it allowed me to put things in place. I was able to organise things in my head and I think it will help tomorrow.”

Familiar names into final

The French supporters continued to be spoiled as their countryman Alexis Sanchez led the majority of the first repechage of the PR1 men’s single sculls. However, in the second half, he started to come under pressure from Israel’s Shmuel Daniel. Daniel took the lead, but the top two places were not in doubt and it was those two that secured their place in the final.

It was two very familiar names securing the places from the second repechage; Italy’s Giacomo Perini, who was making his Paralympic rowing debut, and Australia’s Erik Horrie who is here at his fourth Paralympic Regatta, having won silver at Tokyo 2020.

Commenting on the support from the crowds, Daniel said;

“I could hear the screams of the crowd from the 1k (kilometre), even more. I like the noise. I like the environment. I like everything here. What is giving me extra motivation is to do my best, be my best version. Also, my family are here, so I was able to hear a few words in Hebrew, ‘Come on’ and ‘Go Daddy’. It was amazing.”

Two places from single repechage

In the PR2 mixed double sculls, there was just one repechage and only two places for the final up for grabs. The French crew was out in front early, looking to secure another place for France in the final. Nobody could catch them – it was a win for Benjamin Daviet and Perle Bouge, while the race was on for the second and final qualifying place. Ukraine held off the threat from the Netherlands and it was a place in the final for Anna Aisanova and Iaroslav Koiuda.

Full house for France

In the first of two repechages in the PR3 mixed double sculls, it was a win for Brazil’s Diana Cristina Barcelos de Oliveira and Jairo Natanael Frohlich Klug to confirm their place in the final. However, more interesting for the local supporters, it was France’s Guylaine Marchand and Laurent Cadot that took the all-important second place, making it a full house for France as the only nation to have a crew in all five medal finals tomorrow. Marchant and Cadot applauded the crowd as they crossed the line – respect!

In the second repechage, Great Britain completed their set when Sam Murray and Annie Caddick took the win the ensure GB had all four of their boats into medal finals. Ukraine took the second qualifying place.

Caddick said;

“It was good. We had a clear plan in our minds of how we wanted to execute it, so we went out to the k (one-kilometre mark) and then saw where everyone was, and then made a decision from there. We did that well. We improved on yesterday in that we wanted to try and get out of the blocks a bit quicker and we did.”

Australia and Italy complete the set

The last of the today’s races was the single repechage in the PR3 mixed coxed four. Australia and Italy went head-to-head in this one, pushing each other all of the way and looked pretty secure to take the two qualifying places. They booked their places into the final, but of course tomorrow they’ll face strength of the British crew in this one – unbeaten since 2010! Alexandra Viney indicated that they’ll give it their best shot in the final;

“What we’re doing is building through this regatta. We’re building our confidence, we knew what we were coming to do, and every time we go out in this boat we are making steps towards what we want and that’s what we are showing here.  Every day we are making moves, and I expect to see more of that tomorrow (Sunday) from this crew.”