Para-rowing at Tokyo Paralympics: All you need to know

Britain's Lauren Rowles and Laurence Whiteley will be hoping to retain their Paralympic title

Key information

Dates: 27-29 August

Venue: Sea Forest Waterway

Gold medals on offer: Four

How does it work?

There are four events on the Paralympic rowing programme: the men's arms and shoulders only single scull (PR1M1x), the women's arms and shoulders only single scull (PR1W1x), the mixed double scull (PR2Mix2x) and the mixed coxed four (PR3Mix4+).

All events are raced over 2,000 metres and competitors take part in heats and, where necessary, repechages before going on to contest the finals.

Seats in both the mixed double and single scull events are fixed and are adapted to provide additional support to the athletes. The single scull boats are also equipped with buoyancy devices to provide additional balance.

Coxed four rowers must be able to use a sliding seat to propel the boat. In the four, a maximum of two rowers with visual impairment are allowed per crew while the other rowers in the crew have physical impairments. There must be two rowers of each sex in the crew. The cox can be of either sex and is not required to have an impairment.

In the double scull event, rowers who are not able to use a sliding seat, who have functional use of the trunk but who have weakened function or mobility of their lower limbs are eligible to compete.

Single scull rowers have no or minimal trunk function - in the main body from the neck down to the hips - and are reliant on their arms and/or shoulders to propel the boat.

Who are the British medal hopes?

The mixed coxed four boat is unbeaten in major finals for more than a decade, albeit it with different line-ups. James Fox is the sole survivor from the Rio-winning crew but all of the crew have multiple world titles to their name. The double scull of Lauren Rowles and Laurence Whiteley are also bidding to defend their title.

Who are the other medal challengers?

The men's single sculls event has been dominated by defending Paralympic champion Roman Polianskyi of Ukraine and Australia's Erik Horrie, a two-time silver medallist, in recent times and they will do battle again in Tokyo. There will be a new champion in the women's single sculls with Norway's Birgit Skarstein and Israel's Moran Samuel leading the charge.

Did you know?

Skarstein, who is a three-time world champion in the sport, swapped her boat for sequinned dresses and dancing shoes in 2020 when she became the first wheelchair dancer in the 16 seasons of Norway's version of Strictly Come Dancing - Skal vi Danse. Her and partner Philip Raabe lasted eight weeks on the show.

ParalympicsGB Rio 2016 medals

Four - three golds (ASW1x, TA2x and LTAMix4+) and one bronze (ASM1x)