Record-breaking rowers make sensational start

ParalympicsGB’s rowing squad made a rapid start to their Paris regatta on the first day of competition at Vaires-sur-Marne.

Leading the pack into Sunday’s finals are Lauren Rowles and Gregg Stevenson, who shattered their own mixed double sculls world record by more than three seconds in the heats.

Rowles, now a mum to son Noah with wheelchair basketballer Jude Hamer, is poised to become the first woman to win three Paralympic rowing titles.

She has been dreaming of dipping under the eight-minute barrier for a decade and finally did it alongside debutant Stevenson, a former Army Commando who lost both of his legs in action in Afghanistan.

“This is what we’ve been working towards and promising people we would do,” said Rowles after clocking a time of 7:56.92. “We want to push this field out to where it has never been before.”

Then there is the mixed four, coxed by breast cancer survivor Erin Kennedy.

That boat has not lost since 2010 and Ed Fuller, Frankie Allen, Josh O’Brien, Gierdre Rakauskaite and Kennedy lowered their own world best time by more than four seconds in the heats.

Rakauskaite and Kennedy remain from the combination that made it three golds on the trot in Tokyo and encapsulate the crew’s relentless mentality.

“I enjoyed having the crowd - not that I noticed it, I’ve noticed my own mistakes,” said Lithuania-born Rakauskaite.

“In my head, I’m my own worst critic. I remember the four or five strokes I took incorrectly. I’m going to have to go again to make it better and I’m a perfectionist.”

The wildcard is Welsh single sculler Benjamin Pritchard.

After finishing fifth in a whirlwind debut in Tokyo, the 32-year-old has spent the last three years searching for a successful formula with mixed results.

In his Paralympic opener, he stunned the field by overhauling Italy’s Giacomo Perini and breaking the Games record by more than ten seconds to claim top spot heading into the final.

A fierce thunderstorm rolled onto the course in the latter stages of Pritchard’s race, with lightning causing an hour’s delay to racing and offering an atmospheric backdrop to one of the best races of his career.

“Sometimes you need to save a bit of energy and savour the moment,” said Pritchard.

“Seeing the lightning strike and everything, I was sat there thinking, ‘this is cool’. I just wanted to savour that moment because you don’t get many of those in racing.”