Racing begins at the Final Paralympic Qualification Regatta

With only two spots available for each of the four boat classes and no other qualifying regattas remaining, it was now or never for all Paralympic hopefuls.

In the AS women’s single sculls (ASW1x) Canada’s Joan Reid overcame the pressure and proved that she’s regained the form that qualified her for the Beijing Paralympics by winning the first heat with a wide margin of victory. The 51-year Reid, who missed the 2008 Paralympics after she suffered a broken rib, finished in a time of 5:58, more than 25 seconds ahead of South Africa’s Sandra Khumalo. Reid advanced straight to the final along with Japan’s Mari Ohtake, winner of heat two. The remaining six women will try to keep their bid for the London Paralympics alive when they race in the repechages on Friday evening. 
 
In the AS men’s single sculls (ASM1x) Brazil’s Luciano Luna de Oliveira, who missed qualifying by only one spot at last year’s World Championships, posted the fastest time of all four heats. He rowed the 1,000 metre course in 5:04. The Brazilian was pushed to the line by Germany’s Johannes Schmidt and Ukraine’s Andrii Kryvchun, who finished in 5:06 and 5:09 respectively. Schmidt, 12th at the 2011 World Championships, and Kryvchun will go on to the rephechages, while Luna De Oliveira advances straight to the final along with Maksim Maitlou of Belarus, winner from the other heat.

In a race for lanes in the TA mixed double sculls (TAMix2x) the United States crew of Oksana Masters and Robert Jones raced to a solid win in their first international regatta in a time of 4:05. Throughout the race the Americans remained a few seconds ahead of the challenging Brazilian team, which included Paralympic bronze medalist and 2007 World Champion Josiane Lima. Lima has not competed since 2010, where she finished 4th at the World Championships in Karapiro, New Zealand. The 37-year-old looks in good form to bid for her second Paralympics with the remaining crews finishing a significant distance behind.

The LTA mixed coxed four (LTAMix4+) crews also raced for lanes with the former Paralympic champions from Italy dominating from the start, but Brazil and the up-and-coming South African crew showed they are not to be discounted as contenders for the two qualification spots with a close finish. Italy’s winning time was 3:29, with Brazil just 2 seconds back in 3:32 with South Africa another second behind in 3:33.