U.S. Wins Paralympic Silver in PR3 Mixed Four with Coxswain

The U.S. once again claimed the Paralympic silver medal in the PR3 mixed four with coxswain on Sunday at the Sea Forest Waterway in Tokyo, repeating the performance from the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

The crew of coxswain of Karen Petrik (Glastonbury, Conn./University of Rhode Island), John Tanguay (Pennington, N.J./Columbia University), Charley Nordin (Alameda, Calif./Gonzaga University), Dani Hansen (Patterson, Calif./University of Washington), and Allie Reilly (North Kingstown, R.I./University of Rhode Island) finished behind the defending Paralympic champions from Great Britain and ahead of the bronze medal-winning French crew.

"I think we executed what we wanted to do and I think we put together everything we set out to do," said Petrik.

"It feels good," said Hansen. "It's an accomplishment to bring back a medal for the U.S. We're really pumped, we put a lot into this. The one thing you can do when you come here, despite the past, is put everything you can on the water and if you're capable of doing that you feel proud of yourself. I think all of us did that today and I'm really proud of us as a team. I think we did really well."

Great Britain and the U.S. used their strong starting sequences to immediately jump out on the rest of the field, establishing an early lead for the gold- and silver-medal positions. As the two crews hit the 500-meter mark, the British crew held a deck lead on the American boat, while the U.S. was a length up on France. During the second quarter of the race, Great Britain's power was just too much for the Americans, as the British extended their lead to open water by the midway point.

Great Britain continued to pull away from the U.S. in the third quarter of the race, as the U.S. maintained its open-water lead on France for second place. At the line, Great Britain had won the race in a 7:09.08. The U.S. finished 11 seconds back in a 7:20.13 to earn the silver medal, with France finishing in a 7:27.04 for the bronze medal.

Great Britain extended its unbeaten streak in the event to 11 years, while the U.S. won the silver medal for the seventh consecutive year. Hansen, the lone returnee from the 2016 Rio boat, won her second Paralympic silver.

The U.S. also had three boats racing in Sunday's B finals for overall places 7-12.

In the PR1 women's single sculls, first-time Paralympian Hallie Smith (Washington D.C./Smith College) finished fourth in the B final for a 10th-place finish overall. Korea's Sejeong Kim easily won the race, taking an 11-second lead in the first 500 meters over Argentina's Brenda Sardon and cruising to nearly a one-minute victory over the Argentinian. Smith got off the line strongly, sitting in third position at the first timing mark but dropped to fourth behind Belarus' Liudmila Vauchok in the second quarter of the race. Kim won the B final in a 12:18.83, with Sardon finishing second in a 13:14.45. Smith crossed the line in a 13:55.87.

Two-time Paralympian Blake Haxton (Columbus, Ohio/Ohio State University) also finished fourth in his B final of the PR1 men's single sculls for a 10th-place finish overall. Russia's Aleksey Chuvashev and Germany's Marcus Klemp battled each other at the head of the field until the final 300 meters. Chuvashev held less than a one-second advantage over Klemp at the first two timing markers before Klemp pulled up dead even as the two scullers hit the 1,500-meter mark. That's when Chuvashev put on a massive move to gain a half-length on the German with 250 meters to go and pulled away for an open-water victory. Chuvashev clocked a 10:26.99 to win the B final by just over five seconds. Haxton sat in fourth at each of the 500-meter splits, finishing with a time of 11:40.29.

In the B final of the PR2 mixed double sculls, first-time Paralympian Russell Gernaat (Redwood City, Calif.) and two-time Paralympian Laura Goodkind (Los Angeles, Calif./Whittier College) also finished fourth for a 10th-place finish overall.

"We wanted to get a good start and unfortunately we didn't. Then we were like alright catch up mode. Then it became let's just stick with the pack and see if we can put something together at the end of the race. We would've liked to have done a move more in the middle of the course, but it was a great race. It was a lot of fun."

Brazil got off to the quick start before Australia moved into the top position 500 meters into the race, with Gernaat and Goodkind sitting in third. Australia pushed out to a four-second lead on Brazil at the 1,000-meter mark, with the U.S. still in contact with the Brazilians as the crews moved into the back half of the race. Australia continued to ratchet up their power in the third 500, taking more than a boat length of open water, as the Brazilians began to move away from the Americans. As the crews crossed the finish, Australia had won the race in an 8:56.69. Brazil finished just under nine seconds back in second place, while France caught the U.S. at the line to claim third by a half-length. The U.S. finished with a time of 9:11.63.

"It's a packed field, a lot of competition," said Gernaat. "Brazil and Australia beat us by like 20 seconds [at the 2019 world championships], but not today, not yesterday. We've really closed that gap. So I feel good about our racing overall, we've come a long way and still looking for more improvement. I definitely want to go to France [for the 2024 Paralympic Games] and see if we can put a bid in for a medal."

Click here for USRowing's Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 coverage page for complete results, photos, athlete bios, flash quotes and more.