2023 European Rowing Championships – Para Events Preview

Photo: World Rowing / Benedict Tufnell

PR1 Men’s Single Scull

Six Entries 

2022 Champion: Italy (Giacomo Perini)

This event includes one of the legendary figures in World Rowing: Roman Polianskyi of Ukraine. He made his debut in 2015, and after finishing fourth in his first race at the second World Cup has subsequently never finished lower than second. He won gold at the Rio and Tokyo Paralympics, taking the world title in 2019 and 2022 and the European crown in 2020 and 2021. However, he was pushed back into 2nd last season by a new kid on the block, Giacomo Perini of Italy, the first time he lost to a European sculler.

Italy’s Perini debuted last season, taking gold in his first race at the second World Cup (breaking Polianskyi’s World Best time) and winning gold at the Europeans. Polianskyi got the better of him at the World Championships. The next instalment of the battle between the old and new guard should be fascinating.

Great Britain’s Ben Pritchard finished third at last year’s Europeans; however, he isn’t racing in Bled. Instead, his place is taken by Callum Russell. He made his international debut last season, racing as GBR2 at the first World Cup and winning a bronze medal behind Pritchard and Aussie legend Erik Horrie. Russell is a former mountain biker and turned to rowing following a serious biking injury that left him paralysed. He joined the British Paralympic Pathway programme in 2020 and sculls for Agecroft Rowing Club.

40-year-old Marcus Kemp from Germany is one of the most experienced athletes in the field, having made his international debut back in 2002. He raced in the LTA Mixed Coxed Four at the Beijing Paralympics and then the PR1 Single in Tokyo, where he finished eighth. In 2022 he took bronze at the second World Cup and followed that up with fifth at the World Championships.

Israel’s Shmuel Danieldebutedt in 2017 and reached the A-Final of the 2019 World Championships and the Tokyo Paralympics (finishing sixth on both occasions). He also has two fourth-place finishes at the 2021 and 2022 European Championships.

The final competitor is David Zeelenberg of The Netherlands. Bled marks his international debut following strong indoor rowing performances at the 2023 European Indoor Championships.

Predictions: Ukraine in gold, Italy in silver and Great Britain in bronze.

PR1 Women’s Single Scull

Seven Entries 

2022 Champion: Norway (Birgit Skarstein)

When talking about legends of the rowing world, Birgit Skarstein has to be included in the conversation. She hasn’t lost a race since the final of the Rio Paralympics and since then has won four World Championships, two European and a Paralympic gold medal; considering the limited racing opportunities that the para-rowers get, it is an outstanding achievement. She also holds the World’s Best Time and is the only athlete to break the magic ten-minute barrier.

Runner-up to the Norwegian last season was Nathalie Benoit of France. She was Paralympic bronze medallist in Tokyo and won gold at the 2020 Europeans. She’s been racing internationally since 2009 and was World Champion in 2010 and Paralympic silver medallist in London.

Germany’s Manuela Diening debuted in 2021, reaching the A-Final of the European Championships. In 2022 she made the podium, taking the silver medal, and at the World Championships, she placed fourth.

Moran Samuel of Israel has raced at the last three Paralympics, winning bronze in Rio and silver in Tokyo. She was World Champion in 2015 and picked up world silver in 2017 and 2018 and bronze in 2019. Unfortunately, last season she slipped back a little in the field, missing the podium at both the European and World Championships.

Former paraclimbing international Eva Mol represents the Netherlands. While new to rowing, she has a strong record in her previous sport, winning silver at the 2021 Paraclimbing World Championships. She takes to the water for her first international regatta after winning the 2023 World Indoor Rowing Championships.

Switzerland also has a debutant racing for them, Claire Ghiringhelli. She also competed at the 2023 World Indoor Rowing Championships taking silver behind Mol. It will be fascinating to see these two go head-to-head on the water.

The final entry in the event is 22-year-old Anna Shermet of Ukraine. She won bronze at both the European and World Championships last season. In Tokyo, she just missed out on a podium place. She also has medals from the 2020 and 2021 Europeans.

Predictions: Norway will take another gold ahead of France in silver and Israel in bronze.

PR2 Mixed Double Scull

Eight Entries 

2022 Champions: Ukraine (Svitlana Bohuslavska and Iaroslav Koluda)

Ukraine’s European and World Champions, Svitlana Bohuslavska and Iaroslav Koluda, are back to defend their title. They raced together in Tokyo, just missing the podium. They started their partnership in 2018, winning bronze at the World Championships and followed that with European silver in 2020.

It could be argued that one of the reasons for the Ukrainian’s success in 2022 was the absence of a crew from Great Britain. GB’s Lauren Rowles dominated this event, winning Paralympic gold in Rio and Tokyo with partner Laurence Whiteley; the pair also won World gold in 2019 and the European title in 2021. Rowles was out for most of 2022 but is back with a vengeance in 2023 with new partner Gregg Stevenson. Bled will be the first international regatta for the former Royal Marine, but the word is that he makes the boat go just as fast, if not faster than Whiteley did. The battle between the reigning World and Paralympic Champions should be great to watch.

Also challenging for the podium should be the crew from France, Perle Bouge and Stephane Tardieu. This duo have been racing together for over a decade and took silver at the London Paralympics and bronze in Rio. Tardieu missed the Tokyo Paralympics but returned in 2022, where he and Bouge finished runners-up to the Ukrainians at the Euros and bronze medallists at the Worlds.

Silver medallists at last year’s Worlds were Poland, Michal Gadowski and Jolanta Majka. These two have also been racing together for the last decade and were tenth in London and sixth in Rio and Tokyo. They also have World Championship medals from 2017, 2018 and 2022.

Representing Ireland are Katie O’Brien and Steven Mcgowan. O’Brien is the reigning PR2 Single World Champion, a title she also won in 2019. She and Mcgowan finished fifth in the world last season and were one place off the podium at the Europeans.

One of the most exciting entries is from Italy, with Gian Filippo Mirabile and Veronica Yoko Plebani. Mirabile finished fifth at the Tokyo Paralympics, partnered by Chiara Nardo. In 2022 he raced in the PR2 Men’s Single at the World Championships, winning a silver medal. Plebani is already a decorated Paralympian. She has competed at both summer and winter Paralympics and won a bronze medal in the paratriathlon in Tokyo. Bled will be her first international rowing competition.

The Netherlands finished just outside the medals at the World Championships last season; they have the same lineup competing in Bled with Chantal Haenen and Marinus De Koning. 2022 was Haenen’s first season on the team, but De Koning is a veteran, and 2023 will be his tenth season. He and his former partner, Annika Van Der Meer, were world champions in 2017 and 2018 and took silver at the Tokyo Paralympics.

The final crew in the event is Germany’s Sylvia Pille-Steppat and Paul Umbach. This boat is a real mix of youth and experience. Pille-Steppat is 54 and made her debut in 2014 and was a bronze medallist in the PR1 Single in 2017 and a European bronze medallist in 2020. At the Tokyo Paralympics, she finished 5th in the para single. Umbach is over 30 years his partner’s junior and debuted last season, winning a bronze medal in the PR2 Single.

Predictions: This should be another cracking race with Ukraine v Great Britain. Rowles is one of the fiercest competitors in World Rowing, and it’s hard to bet against her. I’m going for GB in gold, with Ukraine in silver and France in bronze.

PR3 Mixed Double Sculls

Six Entries 

2022 Champions: No Event

This is the first time this particular event is being held at the European Championships; indeed, this event was only introduced at the World Championships in 2017. 

France are the reigning World Champions in this event and has Lauren Cadot returning for 2023. He raced in the PR3 Mixed Four and the Mix Double last season, winning bronze in the Paralympic-class four and gold in the non-Paralympic double. For 2023 he’s partnered with 54-year-old Guylaine Marchand. She was in the PR3 Four at the Rio Paralympics and also won silver in this event at the 2017 Worlds.

Great Britain has two international debutants in their boat: Annie Caddick and Sam Murray from Molesey Boat Club. Caddick had been selected to race this event at the opening World Cup of 2022, but with no other entries, the event was cancelled. Murray raced for the GB para-squad at the Gavirate International Regatta in 2013 and returns to the squad after a five-year absence.

Shay-Lee Mizrachi and Achiya Klein represent Israel. They were fourth in this event at the 2022 Worlds. Klein raced in the PR3 Mixed Four in Tokyo and joined Mizrachi to row together in the Four at the 2017 World Championships.

Italy has international debutant, Elisa Corda, partnering with Luca Conti. 19-year-old Conti was in the Mixed Four last season, finishing sixth at the World Championships and fourth at the Europeans.

Spain’s Enrique Floriano Millan and Veronica Rodriguez Pulido both competed in the Mixed Four last season, winning the B-Final at the World Championships. They were also in the boat at the Paralympics that finished eleventh.

The final crew in the event are also the youngest, Ukraine’s Stanislav Samoliuk and Dariia Kotyk. Kotyk is just 18 and Samoliuk 21. They raced in this event at the World Championships, winning the bronze medal. They also both raced the four in Tokyo, placing ninth. They also have a European bronze medal from 2021 and a silver from 2020. Kotyk made her international debut at the second World Cup of 2019, just ten days after her 15th birthday.

Predictions: With short form to go on, it’s tough to pick, but I’ll go for France in gold with GB in silver and Ukraine in bronze.

PR3 Mixed Four

Four Entries

2022 Champions: Great Britain (Francesca Allen, Giedre Rakauskaite, Ed Fuller, Ollie Stanhope and Erin Kennedy)

Great Britain has dominated this event for what seems like forever; in fact, you have to go back to the Beijing Paralympics for the last time a GB para Four lost a race. They also have a tendency to win by significant margins, 20 seconds at the Europeans last year and 18 seconds at the World Championships. One of the biggest stories for the British team coming into Bled is the return of coxswain Erin Kennedy. She had to miss the World Championships due to breast cancer, and following surgery and chemotherapy, she returns to competition. She’s joined in the boat by three of the crew that won the world and European titles, Ed Fuller, Giedre Rakauskaite and Francesca Allen. The new member of the crew, replacing Ollie Stanhope, is Morgan Fice-Noyes. The 19-year-old has some pretty big shoes to fill, and having only started rowing in 2020, it’s an even more daunting prospect.

Germany were runners-up to the British at the World Championships last year, and they return with an unchanged crew, a crew which includes Kathrin Marchand, who raced in the Women’s Pair at the Rio Olympics before suffering a stroke in September 2021. She’s joined by Jan Helmich, Susanne Lackner, Inga Thoene and Marc Lembeck. This lineup also took bronze at the Europeans in 2022.

France were bronze medallists at the World Championships last year and silver medallists at the Europeans. They have four of the crew that won bronze at the Tokyo Paralympics, Margot Boulet, Remy Taranto, Erika Sauzeau and Emile Acquistapace. The new member of the crew is Gregoire Bireau. The 20-year-old raced in the French U23 Men’s eight in 2021.

The final crew in the event is Italy. They were sixth at the European and World Championships in 2022 and have three of that crew back in 2023, Tommaso Schettino, Greta Elizabeth Muti and coxswain Raissa Scionico. The new members of the crew are Carolina Foresti, who makes her debut in Bled, and Marco Frank, who last represented his country at the 2002 U23 World Championships.

Predictions: it’s not a case of can anyone beat GB, but instead, it’s can anyone get within ten seconds of GB? I’m picking Germany in silver and France in bronze.

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