The decision was made with little fuss or undue attention. The World Rowing Federation made their ruling late in the afternoon on the shores of Tokyo harbour. After easily winning the second heat of the day, by more lengths than the eye could measure, the athlete concerned was quietly relegated to last place and was made to progress through to the repechage. Rowing360 reported it as a “seat sanction” and FISA were being tight-lipped.
What we now understand is that a design innovation was developed by Para Rowing Israel to aid the performance of PR1 Women’s sculler Moran Samuel. An air-spring energy recovery system was installed behind the rowers seat to aid her mobility. The air-spring cleverly returned the athlete to an upright position at the end of the stroke and brought an element of ease and fluidity to her rowing. All good innovations aim to make rowing easier and more efficient, resulting in faster boat speeds. Watch the seat in action here. By the next race, the unsanctioned innovation was removed and a crude rigid upright fix seat installed. From one perspective, Samuel won her next race without much trouble – so no harm done. Yet from a design standpoint it was a huge loss – yet another innovation relegated to the pages of history and a further opportunity to see our sport progress was missed.
It has become a patronising cliche that we regularly hear of the incredible stories of our para athletes and we honour their tenacity, persistence and praise their achievement …”just to get to the games” etc etc. More than ever para athletes want to be treated as any other able bodied competitor, without the necessary backstory and crocodile tears. For the able bodied community, para rowing is a foreign world, with its own heroes and villains, history and legends – and like everywhere, politics. The laws of para rowing are not widely understood and seeing the rules applied is complicated, coupled with a rigorous certification process, ignorance can be largely forgiven. Though, it is time the able bodied rowing community understood the terms PR1, PR2 and PR3 and what it takes to row in these divisions.
Over recent years there has been a move to restore some dignity to our Para athletes but we have a long way to go. Racing is no longer over 1000m, some restrictive straps and blindfolds have been removed but our athletes are insultingly labouring in slow heavy tubs. A PR1 single is 10kgs heavier, much shorter and twice as wide, making it a tank to get moving and tug to keep it at speed. With each stroke, they show the tragedy of our sport and are personally paying a heavy price for our history. There are just too many banned innovations that could transform not only para rowing but all international rowing.
The research has been overwhelming, giving para athletes more mobility, assisted movement will enable lengthening strokes and greater performance. A Norwegian study concluded that simply an …”increased backrest inclination allowed longer virtual distances, higher peak forces, larger impulses, increased trunk motions, longer stroke lengths, and lower stroke rates compared to the participants usual set-up.” With imposed mobility restrictions, it is no wonder that Samuel and other para athletes are eeking out any innovation gain. Are we seriously going to let a “seat violation” go unchallenged especially when Samuel’s air-spring provided her greater mobility?
We’ve had many opportunities to take Rowing in a different path and there are historical innovations that need to be revised that would see para rowing transformed and athletes no longer held back by today’s restrictions. Beginning with removing weight limits, then adding a sliding rigger and follow it up with the hydrofoil . And while we are at it, give Samuel’s back her air-spring! Para rowers deserve to fly over the water with finesse, gracefulness and athleticism – not be given an even greater burden to bear. It is morally indefensible to carry on as we are and on the most simplistic level, it’s just bad optics.
I had the privilege to join two crews who ultilised Randall foils for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. Without a sliding seat PR1 M1x Javier Reja Munoz (ESP) wanted to maximize power application during each stroke. After competing in Rio 2016 in kayaking, Munoz transferred to rowing and recognised the limitations of a standard rowing blade when compared to the grip of the kayaking paddle. Adding a foil to his blade Munoz achieved a similar performance as in kayaking – 4th in the A-Final was a superb result.
Alice Henderson (USA) is the US coach of the PR2 2x crew of Laura Goodkind and Russell Gernaat. After testing Henderson made the decision that her crew would adopt foils when the design proved to aid get off the start and up to speed faster – a critical improvement when overcoming restricted movements. Henderson said “The foils do a great job of controlling the depth of the drive especially at the catch which is even more challenging for fixed seat athletes due to the nature of the stroke.” Goodkind and Gernaat improved upon their 2019 performance and achieved their goal of making the B-Final in Tokyo.
There is a third para rower with Paralympic dreams I would like to mention, PR2 W1x Katie O’Brien (IRE) who achieved Bronze in the 2019 World Championship. Her biggest struggle is actually inaccessibility for similar athletes who are PR2 cannot compete at the World Cups, Europeans or Paralympics unless they have a partner of the opposite sex, which many small and even large countries struggle to find. Katie has had very few racing opportunities even with her international ranking. She has not been able to race internationally since 2019. Despite this, Katie is full of optimism and her advice to the young para rower … “Keep it up, it’s not all about competition and enjoy it!!!”
It seems para Rowing is fighting to innovate while able body athletes slumber in conformity. Able body rowers should be thankful for well funded programs, access to competition, staff, facilities and lightweight carbon fibre racing shells … though, perhaps you haven’t noticed, you too are rowing a tub and have also had the same design innovations denied to you.
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