The glory of Paralympic medals were on the line today at Tokyo’s Sea Forest Waterway for the finals of the para rowing. This is the first Paralympic Games with rowing being raced over 2000m and the athletes knew that as well as medals, setting the Paralympic Best Time was on the cards.

The conditions were hot and humid and a small head wind kept the finishing times below the World Best Times. But there was no doubt about the struggle and grit that was being demonstrated on the water.

PR1 Women’s Single Sculls (PR1W1x) – Final

Who could break the winning streak of Birgit Skarstein? The Norwegian has not lost a race since finishing fourth at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Right from the first strokes Skarstein showed her boat speed being the quickest out of the blocks. By the 200m mark Skarstein had a clear water lead leaving France and Israel to battle it out for second. Skarstein is a phenomenal athlete who has also competed at the winter Paralympics and in between took part in Norway’s Dancing with the Stars.

As Skarstein raced her own race at the head of the field Israel’s Moran Samuel, who medalled at the Rio Paralympics, established herself in second and Nathalie Benoit of France in third. Then the young Ukrainian Anna Sheremet did a big push and moved up on Benoit. Sheremet, 20, started competing internationally in 2018 and this year she took bronze at the European Rowing Championships. Benoit, however, had her sights set on Samuel and she tried to close the gap. Samuel was ready and started to sprint. Benoit and Samuel are both very experienced para rowers with Samuel’s international racing going back a full decade and Benoit’s going back to 2009.

But no one could catch Skarstein. At the line Skarstein had clocked 10:56. Samuel had managed to pull away from Benoit to take the silver and Benoit’s effort earned her bronze.

Results: NOR, ISR, FRA, UKR, GER, BRA

B-finals

It was a mighty pace that Sejeong Kim of Korea set at the start. The 45-year-old Korean finished eighth at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games so this time she had a chance to finish one better in seventh overall. Kim’s pace was too much for anyone else to handle and by the first 500m mark she already had an open water lead. Argentina’s Brenda Sardon was the closest in second with the very experienced Liudmila Vauchok of Belarus overtaking the United States to get herself into third. This is Vauchok’s fourth Paralympic Games.

At the head of the field Kim charged on with Sardon having no chance of catching her. Kim was injured in a car accident in 2007 and first took up wheelchair rugby. Encouraged to switch to para rowing, Kim now finishes her Games in seventh place after building a bigger and bigger lead throughout the race. Kim’s finishing time: 12:18.

Results: KOR, ARG, BLR, USA, JPN, KEN

PR1 Men’s Single Sculls (PR1M1x) – Final

Fastest from the heats two days ago was the World and Paralympic Champion Roman Polianskyi of Ukraine. But first to show was Spain’s newcomer to rowing Javier Munoz. The Polianskyi got into his rhythm and was first to the 500m mark. But Munoz, who comes to rowing from para canoeing, was holding on with Australia’s Erik Horrie and Brazil’s Rene Pereira going with Horrie. Pereira finished sixth at the Rio Paralympics while Horrie was the silver medallist.

Horrie then did a push in the third 500 that got him closer to Munoz with Pereira moving with them. As Polianskyi pulled further away from the field the battle for second was intense. Going through the 1500m mark just three seconds separated Munoz, Horrie and Pereira. Who had the best sprint to the line? Polianskyi had done it. The Ukrainian had defended his Paralympic title. Horrie had sprinted through to silver and Pereira had achieved his best result ever. Polianskyi’s time was 9:48.

Results: UKR, AUS, BRA, ESP, GBR, ISR

“Third time, three silvers. It’s a hard one to swallow but I’m over the moon. I want to wish my soon Luigi happy 9th birthday. I hope you’re proud of me.” – Erik Horrie, AUS

B-final

The United States’ Blake Haxton jumped out quickly. Haxton will also be competing in canoe sprint at these Paralympic Games and the canoe training must have been working well for his rowing starts. Then former Paralympic medallist, Aleksey Chuvashev of RPC and Germany’s Marcus Klemp got their speed going with Chuvashev getting to the first 500m mark just a fraction ahead of Klemp. Mexico’s Michel Munoz was also very much on the pace joining Chuvashev and Klemp to form a leading three. Munoz has been active in a variety of sports including power lifting, triathlons and adventure racing. Going through the middle of the race Chuvashev and Klemp had managed to pull away from Munoz and they were going stroke for stroke at the head of the field. They were dead even with 500m left to row. Chuvashev then started to really push. Using all of his vast experience, the 2012 Paralympic bronze medallist outsprinted Klemp to finish seventh overall in a time of 10:26.

Results: RPC, GER, MEX, USA, NGR, SRI

PR2 Mixed Double Sculls (PR2Mix2x) – Final

In the heats two days ago Great Britain’s Lauren Rowles and Laurence Whiteley had set the fastest time. Whiteley and Rowles have an impressive pedigree. They started rowing together in 2015 when Rowles was just 17 years old. The next year they won the Rio Paralympics. Today they faced off against China’s Shuang Liu and Jijian Jiang, who had won their heat on Friday. Liu was the silver medallist in this boat class in Rio. Liu and Jiang were the first to show and they got to the 500m mark just ahead of Annika van der Meer and Corne de Koning of the Netherlands. De Koning finished fourth in this boat class at the Rio Paralympics and then a year later paired up with van der Meer. Together they have won a number of medals. Then Rowles and Whiteley began to move and got their boat ahead of the Dutch going through the 750m mark.

Liu and Jiang continued to lead but at the half way point Rowles and Whiteley had the overlap with the Chinese and were the fastest moving boat on the water. A push in the third 500 propelled the British into the lead with China now under threat from van der Meer and de Koning. Ukraine was back in fourth but still within striking distance of a medal. The sprint was on to the line and Rowles and Whiteley continued to move the quickest. Birthday boy Whiteley and partner Rowles had successfully defended their Paralympic title and in a time of 8:38. The Dutch had taken advantage of a fading China to grab silver with Liu and Jiang holding on to the bronze.

Results: GBR, NED, CHN, UKR, ITA, POL

B-final

Australia missed out on making the A-final by barely a second in yesterday’s repechages. This brought them into the b-final with the fastest qualifying time. The crew of Kathryn Ross and Simon Albury soon showed their boat speed and by the first 500m mark they had the lead. The lead, however, was small with Brazil, the United States and France all hot on their heels. Ross and Albury had a big race on their hands especially knowing the experience of Brazil’s Josiane Lima and Michel Pessanha.

Ross and Albury pressed on and started to eke out a full boat length lead over Brazil who had their hands full with the United States’ Laura Goodkind and Russell Gernaat. Lima and Pessanha then did a push in a hope to close on the Australians. But Ross and Albury were prepared. For Ross this is her fourth Paralympic Games but her first time competing with Albury. In the final sprint the United States and France were neck-and-neck which was bringing them up to Brazil. Brazil held them off with Australia remaining easily in front.

Results: AUS, BRA, FRA, USA, UZB, CAN

“We knew it was gonna be tough because there are stellar crews out there, but we wanted to put a stand down on what we could do in such a short time and have a really good race and finish it off as hard as we could.” – Kathryn Ross, AUS

PR3 Mixed Coxed Four (PR3Mix4+) – Final

This boat class has been owned by the British over the last two Paralympic Games. They are also the defending World and European Champions. In the heats they won with a dominating time and despite only one of the crew (James Fox) remaining from the Rio Paralympic crew, they look to be the clear favourites today. But they were up against the United States who they had not raced since the 2019 World Rowing Championships where the US finished second. At the start the first to show was the United States with the crew of Reilly, Hansen, Nordin, Tanguay and coxswain Petrick. Danielle Hansen is the only remaining member of the Rio silver medal crew. Then the British picked up their speed and got to the 500m mark just a smidgen ahead of the US. Behind them France and Australia were going neck-and-neck for the bronze medal spot.

The British crew of Buttrick, Rakauskaite, Fox, Stanhope and coxswain Erin Kennedy continued to be the fastest boat on the water. By the half way point the British had broken away to over a boat length lead over the US. France had managed to get just ahead of Australia with Australia now having to keep an eye on the Italians. Italy is the Paralympic Champions from 2008 but have had many crew changes since then. The British continued to push away from the field and it looked like there was nothing the Americans could do to get back up with them. France had broken free of Australia who still had to keep an eye on Italy. In the sprint to the line the British continued to show their dominance with the US having to accept silver. France took a very impressive bronze to earn the last medal of the Tokyo Paralympic rowing regatta.

Results: GBR, USA, FRA, AUS, ITA, ISR

B-final

The fastest qualifier from yesterday’s repechage was Ukraine, but at the start it was Brazil that jumped out quickly. Brazil had a very close battle with Canada in the repechage but today it was RPC that was challenging the Brazilians for the lead. Brazil was first to the 500m mark with RPC just inches away. Behind them Ukraine and Canada were neck-and-neck for third. Sitting next to each other Brazil and RPC were going stroke for stroke and at the half way point RPC had got their bow ball into the lead. Meanwhile Canada had earned a very small advantage over Ukraine.

As they came through the third 500 RPC did a push. So did Canada. The RPC push have them a full boat length lead over Brazil with Canada sneaking ahead of the Brazilians and into second. In the sprint to the finish Brazil was falling back with Ukraine charging. RPC had finished first in a time of 7:39 with Canada in second and Ukraine’s mighty sprint giving them third.

Results: RPC, CAN, UKR, BRA, ESP, JPN

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The two-sport Paralympic rowers

Race for the rowing medals at Tokyo Paralympic Games

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