Image Credit: World Rowing
Reigning Champions: Nikki Ayers, Jed Altschwager (Australia)
Entries: 14
After its debut at the Paris Olympic Games, the PR3 mixed double demonstrated the levels of excitement it can provide. With a slightly stricter set of regulations than the mixed coxed four, it offers compelling racing for some of the best para-rowers in the world. This year, twelve months from Paris, the World Rowing Championships are being held in Shanghai, with a changed cast of characters. For some nations, a new pairing of athletes will compete, while for others, it is a continuation from last year’s campaign.
Australia
After two seasons of perfection from Nikki Ayers and Jed Altschwager, Australia enters this championship as world and Paralympic champions. However, as Altschwager has retired and Ayers is taking a break from the sport, this mantle has fallen to a new generation of Australian talents. Up steps Lisa Greissl and Sam Stunell; this duo has taken two different routes to the sport. Greissl turned to para-rowing later in life and made her international debut this year after serving as a reserve for many years. Stunell, by contrast, is still young as the 18-year-old won gold in the inaugural U23 para-rowing event, a PR3 single at this summer’s U23 World Rowing Championships. As a double, they have performed well in the European leg of their season, winning silver at both legs of the World Rowing Cup. Now racing against a full-strength field, if the crew can keep improving throughout the season, these debutants could be mixing it up in the medals against the best in the world.
Germany
They say that competition breeds excellence, which certainly appears true for the German PR3 double this season. The incumbents were Jan Helmich and Hermine Krumbein, bronze medallists at the Paris Paralympic Games. The challengers were Valentin Luz and Kathrin Marchand, both members of the coxed four who finished fourth in Vaires-sur-Marne. At the national championship, the incumbents struck first blood, but Luz and Marchand raced at the European Rowing Championships, winning gold in the fastest time ever in the boat class. Helmich and Krumbein set another blistering time in eligible conditions to win at the Varese World Rowing Cup. In Lucerne, both crews lined up with Luz and Marchand taking the race for lanes, but after an injury forced them to withdraw, the other German crew took the victory, leaving the question of selection open. Ultimately, the challengers won the selection based on internal testing and will hope to carry that faith through the extended training block as they aim for gold in Shanghai.
Great Britain
Such is the talent in the Great British para-rowing squad that Samuel Murray and Annabel Caddick’s silver medal in this event in Paris was their worst result, with every other crew taking home golds in Paralympic or World Best Times. This year, they return hungry to fix that wrong as both athletes remain in the crew for the new season. This year, they have raced only once, taking silver at the European Rowing Championship, more than six seconds behind the German entry. After a midseason break and a camp in Varese, they are back and ready to attack the World Rowing Championships. Having both made their debut in 2023, neither has won a medal at this event before, so they will be hungry to succeed in Shanghai.
Ukraine
After making their Paralympic debuts in Tokyo, the Ukrainian duo of Dariia Kotyk and Stanislav Samoliuk moved into the double following its addition to the Paralympic programme. In that time, they developed, winning a World Rowing Championship medal in 2022, before missing out at the Paris Games, finishing fourth in Vaires-sur-Marne. Since those Games, the partnership has continued, both on and off the water, as the two were married at a ceremony in Dnipro in October. Their combination in the double continued in Plovdiv as they won bronze in the European Rowing Championships. This strong result is their third in a row at the European Rowing Championships, and if they have been able to build on that form throughout the summer break, they could end up on the podium on Saturday.
Brazil
In their qualification for Paris, the Brazilian crew were perpetually narrowly missing out on booking their ticket. At the 2023 World Rowing Championships and the 2024 Final Olympic Qualification Regatta, they were one position away from qualification, ultimately being granted their position in Paris by the Bipartite Commission. As such, it was surprising to see them performing as well as they did, finishing fifth in the 11-boat field at the Paralympic Games. Returning Diana Cristina Barcelos De Oliveira from that crew, she is joined by Valdeni Da Silva Junior, a Tokyo Paralympian in the coxed four, reuniting the double who won a silver in this event in 2022. Returning to that form in Shanghai may be a stretch, but they can potentially pull off a shock on the biggest stage.
Individual Neutral Athletes
Racing as Individual Neutral Athletes, the Russian combination of Anna Piskunova and Anton Voronov made their return to international rowing this year. They had not raced since the 2020 Paralympic Games, where they finished seventh overall in a ‘Russian Paralympic Committee’ PR3 mixed coxed four. Since Tokyo, the 45-year-old Voronov has been a world indoor rowing champion in 2022, but returned to classic rowing at the European Rowing Championships, finishing fourth in the five-boat field. This result, while solid, did not suggest that their return will be groundbreaking, with a more realistic goal being to reach the A-final in Shanghai.
France
After finishing sixth at his home Paralympic Games, Laurent Cadot will again stroke the French crew at the World Rowing Championships. An Olympian, Cadot raced in Athens and Beijing, sitting in the stroke seat of the French eight and pair, respectively. After an extensive career in mainstream rowing, spanning thirteen years in the French senior team, Cadot suffered from a degenerative neurological disorder and joined the French para-squad in 2022, making the Paralympic team for the Paris Games last summer. After racing in a PR3 men’s pair at the Varese World Rowing Cup, winning gold in a new World Best Time, he returns to the mixed double alongside international debutant Eva David. With Cadot lining up for his 12th major global championships, the French selectors will hope his experience provides the baseline for a successful crew in Shanghai.
Mexico
Mexico again sends a crew to this regatta with a PR2 athlete on board. Qualifying for the Paralympic Games in this boat class, Angeles Britani Gutierrez Vieyra moved up from the PR2 ranks alongside her double partner and while Miguel Angel Nieto Carpio has returned to the PR2 mixed double for this season, Gutierrez Vieyra remains in the crew. Having won silver in the non-Paralympic PR2 women’s single at the Varese World Rowing Cup regatta, she is joined in Shanghai by Pablo Ramirez Lemus, a member of Mexico’s last-place PR3 mixed coxed four at the Final Paralympic Qualification Regatta. As a unit, this crew has come together recently, only racing internationally at the Royal Canadian Henley Regatta in Canada, where they finished more than a minute behind a US Rowing Development crew. If they want to perform well at the World Rowing Championships, they must improve their performance significantly from that mark.
India
The final nation returning to this event after the Paris Games is India, which will race the same crew as last summer. This crew of Narayana Konganapalle and Anita secured their qualification in April at the Asian and Oceanian continental qualifier, where they were the first Paralympians in the sport from the South Asian nation. The crew had some international experience before the Games, winning a silver medal at the Asian Para Games in 2023 and finishing ninth at that year’s World Rowing Championships. They finished eighth in the 11-boat field in Paris, the best result from a continental qualifier. They avoided racing in Europe this season, with their season-opener coming in Shanghai. They hope to build on their form in Paris and challenge the more established rowing nations.
Spain
After racing in two Paralympic Games in the PR3 mixed coxed four, Spain takes on their first-ever World Rowing Championship PR3 mixed double. Across the season, this crew has changed, but Josefa Benitez Guzman has remained constant in the crew. The four-time Paralympian made two appearances as a cyclist before rowing in the coxed four in Tokyo and Paris. The 56-year-old took on a new boat class for this season, finishing in a distant fifth at the European Rowing Championships, but has a new partner for next week in Daniel Diaz Alcaide, her crewmate from the Paris Games. This crew, coached by the Atlanta Olympian David Morales Paz, will hope to make a big step forward in Shanghai, as they look to raise Spain up the totem pole of Paralympic rowing.
Italy
The final European entry in the event is Italy, which brings the crew of Elisa Corda and Luca Conti. These athletes have been around the Italian squad for some time. Corda rowed in this event across the 2023 season, ultimately finishing tenth at the World Rowing Championships. Conti has been in camp with the coxed four, racing at the 2022 and 2023 World Rowing Championships. Out of the crew for the Paris Games, he would win gold in the PR3 men’s pair at the World Rowing Championships in Canada. After racing in that boat class in the Varese World Rowing Cup, he won bronze in the inaugural U23 PR3 men’s single at the World Rowing U23 Championships this summer. Bringing the crew together, there are limited expectations for the crew this championship, as they provide further depth to a strong para-rowing setup in Italy.
Uzbekistan
A new lineup for this year, Uzbekistan makes its debut in the World Rowing Championship event. For this, lead para-rowing coach Bunyot Atamuradov has opted to combine Dinara Belyanina, a member of the unsuccessful PR3 mixed four at last year’s Final Paralympic Qualification Regatta, with Akbarali Abduvaliev, who makes his international rowing debut in Shanghai. The partnership raced at the Varese World Rowing Cup earlier in the season, finishing fourth out of five. They will look to build on this result to challenge the established European nations.
China
Host nation China will race in this event with an interesting crew. In the bow seat, Yingli Shen makes her international debut as the 26-year-old seeks to impress in her hometown. Lining up with her is Xuebin Feng, who has intermittently been part of the Chinese para-rowing squad. Racing in the PR3 coxed four at the Paralympic Games in London thirteen years ago, he has been called upon to lend his experience to crews in that boat class across the last thirteen years. In 2016, he raced at the Final Paralympic Qualification Regatta, helping China earn a spot in Rio before being replaced for the Games. Again in 2019, he rowed at the World Rowing Championships but failed to qualify for Tokyo. Post-Paris, he lines up in a new boat class to maximise his performance on home water.
Japan
Rounding out the field is Japan’s first-ever World Rowing Championship crew in the PR3 mixed double sculls. Crew members Ayako Takano and Ryota Seto, aged 42 and 30, made their international debuts at the Varese World Rowing Cup regatta this year. Finishing in fifth place, almost two minutes behind the winning crew, it was a challenging weekend for the crew. Back in Asia, they are closer to home water, and the crew hopes to improve on that performance to be competitive with at least the back end of this world-class field.
Prediction
A change in personnel for many of the top teams could open up the field for others, but based on the early-season results, I think we will have the same three nations on the podium as twelve months ago, albeit in a different order. My pick for gold is the new German double, with the British crew remaining in second place ahead of the new selection from Australia.
