Image Credit: World Rowing
In the world of sport, there is always a narrative brewing. Who is rising, and who is falling. But between training peaks and various factors behind the scenes, there is always some noise obscuring the ultimate truth behind the speed. But once every four years we gather to put all that aside. The peak of the sport is at the Paralympic games, across five events, 114 athletes from 29 countries will compete to assure themselves a spot in the history books and earn themselves the ability to say with all certainty: I am the greatest.
Australia
Erik Horrie is representing Australia at what will be his fourth Paralympic Games. He won silver in the ASM1x at both London and Rio and when the classifications were renamed ahead of the Tokyo Games, he won silver again. So far, this season has been a fruitful one. Horrie was second behind Giacomo Perini at World Rowing Cup II and then a few weeks later, third behind Ben Pritchard and the Italian as mentioned earlier. While off the podium for the past few world championships, the Australian has made a habit of peaking at the right time every four years and will be looking to usurp the favourites in his quest for a fourth Paralympic medal.
Canada
Back in March, Jacob Joseph Wassermann punched his ticket to the Paralympics via the Continental Qualification Regatta and through quota reallocation. Wasserman is 24 years old and has only been rowing for about two years so to be racing in Paris is a mammoth achievement and while not necessarily challenging for the top spots, he’s an exciting prospect to watch out for in years to come.
France
France’s Alexis Sanchez comes home to Paris via the Final Paralympic Qualification Regatta which he won by a comfortable 15 seconds over Brazil’s Rene Campos Pereira. He’s a new addition to the circuit since 2023 but this season has been one of marked improvement, seeing him finish fourth behind Ukraine’s Roman Polianskyi as well as Perini and Pritchard.
Germany
One of the statesmen of the field, Marcus Klemp has been racing internationally since 2002. This includes two Paralympic appearances in Beijing and Tokyo, with his best result being a fourth-placed finish at the former in the LTAMix4+. Klemp has breached A-Finals at both World Rowing Cup II and the European championships but on both occasions was nearly a minute off a podium position so he’s certainly an outsider for a medal but we should expect to see him in the A-Final this weekend.
Great Britain
Ben Pritchard, the Welsh dragon, is starting to roar like never before. Paris will be his second Paralympic Games and there is great anticipation that he will improve on his fifth-placed finish from three years ago. The best part for British fans is that the evidence certainly backs this up. Since the 2022 World Rowing Cup I, Pritchard has always been on the podium, including back-to-back bronze medals at the 2022 and 2023 world championships. 2024 has been a bronze medal at the Euros but crucially, he won his first international regatta at World Rowing Cup III where he notably beat Perini by six seconds. Pritchard is more than capable of winning a medal, the question remains as to what colour it will be. Bronze is certainly on the cards; a silver would be outstanding. A gold, however, would require a large rabbit to be drawn out of a small hat… stranger things have happened…
Israel
Shmuel Daniel debuted on the international stage back in 2017 and, like Pritchard, is looking forward to his second Paralympics. Daniel is yet to win a medal at an international regatta, coming fourth at several European championships amongst his notable achievements. The experience of racing a Paralympic Regatta three years ago will be handy but much like Klemp, we should see Daniel fighting for a minor place in the A-Final.
Italy
Giacomo Perini’s name has already been mentioned several times before we even get to his section and for good reason. He exploded onto the world stage back at World Rowing Cup II in 2022 and has never finished lower than second whenever he has raced – it’s an extraordinary record. The Italian won silver at both the 2022 and 2023 world championships and this year, he kicked off his season with a win at the European championships before being pushed into the bridesmaid position by Ben Pritchard at World Rowing Cup III. On a good day, Perini could win the whole thing and for him not to leave with a Paralympic medal would be shocking.
Japan
The term statesman has already been used, however, Takuya Mori is certainly the elder of the fleet. What’s noteworthy though is that he only started racing internationally back at the 2022 world championships where he was third in the B-Final. Since then, he didn’t start at either the 2023 world championships or this year’s World Rowing Cup II in the repechage, but he was just over 40 seconds back on Daniel in Heat 2. At the Asian Continental Qualification Regatta there was some controversy as the Kazak sculler was excluded as the restraint strap was improperly applied, allowing Mori to go to Paris in his place.
Spain
Javier Garcia Martinez is another recent arrival to the PR1 Single Scull. He made his debut at last year’s world championships but an eighth-placed finish wasn’t good enough to book a ticket for Paris. He qualified after he won the European Paralympic Qualification Regatta, some 22 seconds up on the next-placed sculler. At World Rowing Cup II, he was fourth, some ten seconds back on Horrie.
Tunisia
Maher Rahmani topped the African Qualification Regatta on home water back in October, comfortably ahead of the South African and Egyptian entries. Since then he was eighth at World Rowing Cup II and sixth at World Rowing Cup III, suggesting he will struggle to make the A-Final in Paris, especially as the latter was missing many of the Paralympic entries.
Ukraine
The don, the boss, the legend. Roman Polianskyi comes to Paris as a two-time Olympic Champion looking to defend his title from three years ago. The Ukrainian’s record speaks for itself – he’s won every world championship since 2019 but 2024 has been a mixed bag. He once again established himself at the top of the pecking order at the European championships but come World Rowing Cup II, he had to withdraw ahead of the final despite comfortably winning his heat. It’s been three months since that event and the world is on tenterhooks to see if Polianskyi can win a third title.
Uzbekistan
Kholmurod Egamberdiev will be representing his country at an Olympics at just 21 years old. On his first international outing, he reached the A-Final of the 2022 world championships, and a year later placed seventh overall. This year, he’s only raced once but it was a valuable one, just six seconds back on Horrie and four seconds up on the Spanish sculler.
Prediction
This will come down to GB vs Italy vs Ukraine. I think Polianski can take care of business and leave with the gold while Ben Pritchard will win an awesome silver ahead of Giacomo Perini.
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