Great Britain’s brilliant para-rowers can inspire on and off the water in Paris | Paris 2024 Paralympic Games

Great The British Para-rowers are ready to take over the brilliant performances of the Olympic rowing team in Paris and let us enjoy their stories on and off the water. ParaGB have won gold medals at every Paralympic Games since rowing became part of the programme in Beijing in 2008 and they are ready to continue that trend and take it to the next level.

A close-knit group of 10 para-athletes will compete in four events, all with the potential to win medals and incredible life stories. One team will attempt to extend a remarkable record, while another will race in an event new to the programme. They include a coffee expert, a cancer activist and a former Invictus competitor, with two becoming parents in the last 18 months.

The PR3 mixed coxed four (PR3 is where rowers use their legs, torso and arms) consists of Giedre Rakauskaite, Frankie Allen, Ed Fuller and Josh O’Brien. They are coxed by Erin Kennedy and are looking to continue Britain’s astonishing 13-year winning streak in the event. Working with their coaches, the crew have managed to use the pressure of this record as a positive force, while consistently trying to beat their own world record time. Rakauskaite describes the unbeaten legacy as a privilege.

O’Brien raced her way into the crew this year, while Kennedy and Rakauskaite won gold in Tokyo. Kennedy is a wise hand in the driver’s seat, always aware of what the crew needs to focus on in training and racing. She’s shared the ups and downs of that journey publicly, and after being diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2022, she continued to compete through chemotherapy, including winning the 2022 European Championships.

After a short break for a double mastectomy and 15 rounds of chemotherapy, Kennedy returned to win the 2023 European Championship, exactly one year after her cancer diagnosis. She is an active advocate for women’s breast health.

Results suggest the team will continue to dominate in Paris. When they line up for the final next Sunday, it will be a poignant story for Rakauskaite, as it is the anniversary of the teenage car accident in which she was injured, which subsequently led to a Paralympic classification. There is so much at stake for all these athletes and their families every time they race.

The PR3 mixed double sculls is a new event and the crew of Sam Murray and Annie Caddick are on a steep learning curve. They have raced well all season with a bronze medal at the European Championships. This event has had some very exciting finishes so expect a race that goes all the way to the finish.

The PR2 mixed double sculls (PR2 is where rowers use only their torso and arms) teams two-time Paralympic champion Lauren Rowles with Gregg Stevenson, a former Royal Engineers commando. Stevenson suffered a traumatic injury in Afghanistan in 2009 that resulted in a double leg amputation. He is making his Paralympic debut, fulfilling an ambition sparked when he auditioned for the Invictus Games in 2018, when his powerful rowing machine scores led to advice to aim for the Paralympics.

He initially targeted Tokyo, but surgery forced him to step back and he thought his chance was gone. But when Rowles’ former doubles partner, Laurence Whiteley, retired in 2022, Rowles called Stevenson to ask if he might be considered for a trial for Paris. They won gold at the 2023 World Championships in a world record time and have been unbeaten since. Outside of rowing, Stevenson is studying psychology and draws on his own experiences to support others as a mental health practitioner for an NHS service for veterans called Op Courage.

Rowles is aiming for her third consecutive Paralympic gold medal in the next leg of her remarkable journey since she was left paralyzed from the waist down by transverse myelitis at the age of 13. Inspired by the London 2012 Paralympic Games a year later, Rowles took up wheelchair track racing. She switched to rowing in 2015 and won at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

She is a passionate advocate for greater inclusivity in sport and says she found an even deeper source of motivation for Paris after her partner and Paralympic wheelchair basketballer Jude Hamer gave birth to their son this year.

One of the most popular characters in the rowing team is Ben Pritchard, who competes in the PR1 men’s single sculls (PR1 means the rowers use their arms and shoulders). A proud Welshman who grew up as a keen young sailor and later triathlete, his life was changed by an accident that left him in a wheelchair at the age of 24.

Finding rowing and a sporting challenge in the form of the Paralympics has shaped his life. He is an expert in specialty coffee and has honed his roasting and blending skills alongside daily training. Pritchard finished fifth in Tokyo and will face rivals with plenty of experience. Having climbed to bronze at the world championships in 2022 and 2023, and won his first international gold medal in the final World Cup event before Paris, he is fully focused on reaching the podium.

Watching their Olympic teammates navigate finishing positions within the blink of an eye will have sharpened the final preparations among the British para-rowing crew. Expect more moments of inspiration, breathtaking finishes and emotional moments from this extraordinary team.