The last day of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Regatta saw the finals across the five boat classes in which nine different nations won medals.
It was incredible day for Great Britain who took gold in three of the five boat classes, along with a further silver medal, to top the medal table. Australia and Israel finished second equal, both earning one gold and one bronze.
Israel was the first to claim gold when Moran Samuel won the PR1 women’s single sculls. It was particularly special for her as she had won bronze at Rio 2016 and silver at Tokyo 2020. On this occasion, she beat the reigning Paralympic Champion, Birgit Skarstein of Norway, while France’s Nathalie Benoit picked up bronze in what, she said, was the last race of her career.
The reigning Paralympic Champion was also beaten in the PR1 men’s single sculls, when Great Britain’s gold rush started. Benjamin Pritchard got out ahead and led the entire race to become Paralympic champion, while Tokyo 2020 gold medallist Roman Polianskyi took silver.
The bronze medal went to Italy’s Giacomo Perini, but the Italian was found to be using communication equipment during the race, in breach of the rule 28 of World Rowing’s Rules of Racing. As a result, he was excluded from the event and ranked last, and the bronze medal was therefore awarded to Australia’s Erik Horrie.The Italian Federation has decided to appeal this decision.
The majority of the final of the PR2 mixed double sculls was led by the Republic of China’s Shuang Liu and Jijian Jiang but a final sprint from Lauren Rowles and Gregg Stevenson allowed them to claim another gold for Great Britain, and making Lauren Rowles the first person to become a three-time Paralympic Champion in rowing. It was bronze for Israel’s Shahar Milfelder and Saleh Shahih.
The PR3 mixed double sculls made its Paralympic debut in Paris and Australia’s Nikki Ayers and Jed Altschwager became the first-ever Paralympic Champions. While their result was clear, it was a photo finish for silver with Great Britain’s Annie Caddick and Sam Murray being confirmed as the silver medallists ahead of Germany’s Jan Helmich and Hermine Krumbein by 0.12 seconds.
Great Britain were firm favourites in the final race of the day, the PR3 mixed coxed four – being unbeaten in this boat class since 2010. However, the USA kept them under pressure every stroke of the way and claimed silver just over three seconds behind. Meanwhile, the photo finish camera was back in action once again and this time the margin was just 0.06 seconds with France taking the bronze on home waters ahead of Germany.