GB claim three gold medals in Para-rowing

Great Britain's Gregg Stevenson and Lauren Rowles pipped China to gold in the mixed double sculls

Lauren Rowles and Gregg Stevenson left it late to claim a thrilling Paralympic gold in the mixed double sculls as Great Britain won four rowing medals early on day four in Paris.

The pair's victory was sandwiched between GB wins in the men's single sculls and mixed coxed four while Annie Caddick and Sam Murray took silver in the mixed double sculls PR3.

Rowles and Stevenson, aiming for Great Britain's third successive Paralympic gold in the division, trailed Chinese Lius Shuang and Jijan Jiang with 100m to go in the 2,000m event.

But the British duo timed their charge perfectly to snatch a dramatic victory in a time of eight minutes 20.97 seconds.

Shuang and Jiang, who led for the majority of the race, looked dejected as they finished 2.48 secs behind the British pair to claim silver, with Israel third.

The victory is Rowles' third gold following wins in Tokyo in 2021 and Rio in 2016 with former partner Laurence Whiteley. Rowles is the first British rower to win three Paralympic gold medals.

It was the second rowing victory of the day for Great Britain after Ben Pritchard won gold in the PR1 men's singles sculls with a comeback win of his own.

The Welshman trailed Italy's Giacomo Perini during the first 1,500m of the 2,000m event.

But Pritchard started his charge with 500m to go and eased to victory in the home straight, finishing with a time of nine minutes 03.84 seconds.

Ukraine's Roman Polianskyi pipped Perini at the finish to take silver, finishing more than 10 seconds behind Pritchard.

Pritchard's victory was Britain's first in the division since Tom Aggar's gold at the 2008 Games in Beijing.

Great Britain also continued their astonishing dominance at major championships in the PR3 mixed coxed four.

Defending champions Giedre Rakauskaite and cox Erin Kennedy were this time joined by debutants Frankie Allen, Ed Fuller and Josh O'Brien.

But those changes did not affect the team's unbeaten record at major championships - which extends back to 2011 - as they eased to gold once again.

Britain led from 500m and finished more than three seconds ahead of silver medallists the United States in a time of 6:55.30.

In the mixed double sculls PR3, Caddick and Murray pipped Germany to claim silver.

Australian pair Nikki Ayers and Jed Altschwager cruised to their first Para-rowing gold to leave Caddick and Murray battling with Jan Helmich and Hermine Krumbein for silver.

The German pair trailed the Britons by more than three seconds with 500m to go but they pushed hard in the final quarter of the race.

However Caddick and Murray held on to finish in second by 0.12 sec.