Para-rower Birgit Skarstein (35) was the strongest in Hungary and took EC gold in single sculls for the fourth year in a row.
Saturday 27 April at 14:23With a time of 10.52.40, it was another triumph for Skarstein, who is used to winning, in the regatta in Szeged. She is the reigning Paralympics, world and European champion in her class.
On Saturday, she won ahead of Manuela Diening from Germany and France’s Nathalie Benoit.
– She is completely raw. She is superb as we are used to seeing, said NRK’s rowing expert Lars Bjønnes when the 35-year-old crossed the finish line.
The strong Israeli Moran Samuel led the race at the beginning, but cracked along the way and finished fourth.
– This is one of the hardest races I have ever done. It was a really tough headwind, and I was so tired. Moran was so far ahead, so my tactic was not to follow her, but rather to hang with France and Germany and try to row through the wind instead of crashing into it, Skarstein told the organizer.
She has a total of eleven gold medals from the Olympics (1), WC (6) and EC (4) in para rowing.
Skarstein has had a somewhat troubled run-up to the 2024 season as a result of a broken leg just before Christmas. She tested the martial art of judo and suffered a fracture when she threw her opponent onto her own leg.
– It was not very wise. I was so embarrassed that I didn’t dare say what I had done at first, but I just had to say it. You can imagine the nurse’s reaction when I told them that I had tried judo, Skarstein told Trønder-Avisa at the time.
Skarstein was paralyzed from the waist down in 2009, but has partial feeling in his leg. She is qualified for the Paralympics in Paris this summer.
