Ben Pritchard Puts The Dark Days Behind Him To Storm To Paralympic Gold

By Paul Jones

Ben Pritchard revelled in being top dog in a golden era of Paralympic single sculling.

Pritchard, who finished fifth in Tokyo, put in a stunning breakthrough performance to win PR1 gold in Paris by a margin of 11 seconds.

It was the Welshman’s first major international gold medal and came after he found a cyst in his wrist last year.

“I had a massive disruption in getting to the Games and it was a big push just to get here,” said Pritchard, who is one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing them to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support – which has been vital on their pathway to the Paris 2024 Games.

“Once this year came around, we’ve had a pretty consistent season, but it has all been about this race and the process and it came off.”

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Pritchard set a new ten-second Paralympic record in the heats and only missed the world record by easing down to admire a lightning strike.

Having surged past Giacomo Perini in the closing stages of the heat, he led the Italian lead for the first half of the final and established a perfect position to strike.

Pritchard put the hammer down at the halfway mark, with his long and powerful stroke opening up oceans of clear water and he let out a mighty roar in crossing the line first.

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He beat pre-race favourite Roman Polianskyi of Ukraine, who was bidding for a third title on the trot, by a full 11 seconds with Perini rowed into bronze.

The class has sped up significantly since Tokyo due to deregulation in the strapping that athletes wear while racing and Pritchard has taken advantage.

“The whole field has moved on 23 or 24 seconds in the last three years,” he said.

“Five athletes have now gone under nine minutes and any one of those five could have got a medal, so it’s really exciting and the closest the field has ever been in terms of medals, so it’s going to be great for LA.”

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