Great Britain shines double gold at Rowing Paralympics

Great Britain has won the gold medal at both the Mixed Double Sculls and the Mixed Coxed Four. 

In the Women’s Single Sculls, Norwegian Birgit Lovise Roekkum Skarstein claimed the Paralympic gold.

Roman Polianskyi (UKR) wins the Men’s Single Sculls in an impressive 9:48.78.

Ellen Buttrick, Gledre Rakauskalte, James Fox, Oliver Stanhope and Coxwaln Erin Kennedy of Team GB celebrated their victory after winning the Gold medal of the PR3 Mixed Coxed Four Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games at the Sea Forest Waterway. 

The undefeated rower James Fox notches another victory while Laurence Whiteley and Lauren Rowles defend their Paralympic PR2 mixed double sculls. James Fox is a six-time world champion in para rowing, and defended the title in Rio 2016 with his teammates. This means they have been unbeaten for 11 years. 

The team were the clear favourites going into the 2000m race at the Sea Forest Waterway. They started rowing, leading from the start with the USA and France close behind. However, by 1000m they had shaken them off and extended the lead by eight seconds. GBR finished in a time of 7:09.08 followed by the United States with a time of 7:20.13 and France with 7:27.04. 

Laurence Whiteley and Lauren Rowles celebrated gold

Whiteley celebrated his 30th birthday with his teammate Lauren Rowles by defending their Rio 2016 title in the PR2 mixed double sculls. The world champions crossed the line in 8:38.99, beating the Netherlands who finished silver in 8:43.85. China took the bronze with 8:49.42.

“We both want to set out to leave a legacy. The medals are one thing but going down in the history books and being remembered as a fantastic combination, a fantastic boat, is something else and we’re writing that story today.” -Whiteley

More Rowing Paralympics medals

The four-time world paralympic champion Birgit Lovise Roekkum Starstein crossed the line 21 seconds ahead of her nearest rival, taking the gold in the PR1 women’s single sculls. She finished in 10:56.88 followed by Israel’s Moran Samuel in 11:18.39. The bronze medal went to France’s Nathalie Benoit with 11:28.44.

In the men’s single sculls Paralympic, the world champion Roman Polianskyi claimed the gold with Australia’s five-time world champion, Erik Horrie, finishing in silver. Brazil’s Rene Campos Pereira took the bronze with Spanish Javier Reja Muñoz following closely behind. 

Times were 9:48.78 for Polianskyi, 10:00.82 for Horrie and 10:03.54 for Campos. 

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