Paris 2024 Paralympic Games: Nathalie Benoit takes bronze in PR para-rowing, France also in PR3

Nathalie Benoit heureuse de sa 3e place. MAXPPP – LP/Jean-Baptiste Quentin

Two new medals for the French Paralympic team with bronze in rowing. 

Nathalie Benoit won a bronze medal in the PR1 para-rowing on Sunday and was then imitated by the French mixed coxed four team PR3, bringing the French delegation's medal tally to 19. For the last race of her career, the 44-year-old from Marseille won a third Paralympic medal in the PR1 single sculls, after silver in 2012 and bronze in Tokyo.

Benoit made the difference in the last 100 meters

She competes in a category reserved for people who cannot use their legs and trunk. Fourth for most of the 1,500-meter race, Nathalie Benoit accelerated at the end to overtake Ukrainian Anna Sheremet 100 meters from the finish but finished less than five tenths behind Norwegian Birgit Skarstein.

Israeli Moran Samuel, untouchable, easily won gold. She had to go through the repechage to qualify. “It was annoying to have to do the repechage because it's very tiring, but at the same time it allowed me to put things in place”, she admitted after qualifying for the final.

A team medal by six hundredths

Then, it was the French team of the mixed coxed four PR3 (slight coordination problems), composed of Émilie Acquistapace, Margot Boulet, Grégoire Bireau, Rémy Taranto and Candyce Chafa, who snatched the bronze medal by six hundredths.

France was represented in the five para-rowing finals of the day, which took place at the Stade nautique de Vaires-sur-Marne. But neither Alexis Sanchez, nor the pairs Benjamin Daviet/Perle Bouge and Guylaine Marchand/Laurent Cadot finished in the top three places.