Guide to Paracanoe and Para Rowing
European Championships Munich 2022 wants to bring people together and make sport and culture an experience for everyone. Inclusion is of great importance to us - and we want to lead by example. For the first time, two Paralympic sports will be part of the events at the European Championships: Paracanoe and para rowing. It is by no means customary that para sports are included in multi-sport events. Which is sufficient reason to take a closer look at the two sports.
GERMAN MEDAL HOPE: FELICIA LABERER
One of the most promising athletes from a German perspective is paracanoeist Felicia Laberer from Sportclub Berlin-Grünau. For six years, the 21-year-old was a swimmer until switching to paracanoe in 2018. The Berlin sportsperson has congenital unilateral dysplasia and dysmelia of the lower right limb, which means her right leg is significantly shortened.
What fascinates her about her sport? "The connection with nature, it's really nice to be on the water, especially in summer," she says. Besides, you can push your body to the limit and "push boundaries", she adds. Laberer has already achieved that several times in her short competitive career: in 2021 she claimed gold at the European Championships in Poznań and the two-time German champion won bronze at the Paralympic Games as well.
© DKV
Paracanoe competitions are held in two racing boat classes, the single kayak (K1) with double-bladed paddle and the outrigger canoe va'a (V1) with stand-up paddle. An outrigger canoe is a boat to which a pontoon, in other words a float, is attached at the side to stabilise the boat. In addition, the boats are much wider than those used by canoeists without a disability. The courses are fixed in length and the distance in all competitions is 200 metres. Paracanoe celebrated its premiere on the world's biggest sports stage at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro.
A GOOD SIGN FOR INCLUSION
Paracanoeists are divided into three different starting classes depending on the movement capabilities of their legs, arms, and trunk. KL1 athletes can only use their arms and/or shoulders to apply power. The KL2 class includes athletes who can use their torso and arms, and in KL3 the legs are also used - as is the case with Laberer. The seat and the paddle are individually adapted to their needs. For the Berlin athlete, this means that her single kayak is equipped with a footboard on the right so that she can build up enough pressure with her leg.
For her, it is "a good sign for inclusion" that her sport can compete at European Championships Munich 2022. "We as a team fight a great deal for equality," says Laberer: "We don't want to be defined only by our disability, because we perform just as well and train just as hard as the others."
© Roco Runs
POWER OVER A 2000 METRE DISTANCE: PARA ROWING
Para rowing was first held at the 2002 World Rowing Championships in Seville and has been part of the competition programme since the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing. The Paralympic version is also called "adaptive rowing", as the boat material and equipment are adapted to the athletes’ physical impairments.
In Paralympic competition, athletes compete in three boat classes depending on their functional capabilities: Women's and men's singles, mixed doubles, and mixed coxed fours. Races are held over 2000 metres in all disciplines.
SCULL OR OAR, THAT’S THE QUESTION
Depending on the rowing technique and type of oars, rowing boats can be divided into two categories, scull and oar boats. In "classic" rowing, rowing with sculls, each rower is responsible for a pair of sculls, e. g. one scull per side, and the rowing movements must be largely synchronised. When rowing with oars, only single bars are used, which the rowers hold with both hands.
In addition, the respective type of disability is decisive for the classification into a starting class. A distinction is made between PR1, PR2 and PR3 - depending on the limitations with regard to legs, trunk as well as arms and shoulders, depending on whether they can row only with the strength from the shoulders and arms, the upper body and with the use of the entire body.
© Dean Mouhtaropoulos/ Staff/ Getty Images
In addition, athletes with impaired vision are also allowed to compete at the Paralympics, namely in the mixed fours - like the German para rower Marc Lembeck, whose vision is approximately ten per cent due to hereditary reasons. He is very pleased about the big stage presented at Munich 2022: "We para athletes don't receive this much attention so often," says the man from Solingen. And he continues: "European Championships Munich 2022 are a huge sporting event where the whole of Europe will come together. Inclusive services will make it accessible to everyone, so that people with and without disabilities can experience this event together." A special opportunity for inclusion in Germany.
COMPETITIONS AT MUNICH 2022
Twelve competitions in paracanoe and four in para rowing complete the sports programme of the multi-sport event, so we can look forward to 177 medal decisions in the Bavarian capital.
The following 12 events will be held in paracanoe:
VL1 200m women & men
VL2 200m women & men
VL3 200m women & men
KL1 200m women & men
KL2 200m women & men
KL3 200m women & men
In para rowing the following decisions are approaching:
PR1 women’s & men’s single sculls
PR2 Mixed doubles
PR3 Mixed coxed four
INCLUSION AT MUNICH 2022
Inclusion is a special topic for us, which we live by on our festival site, but also implement consistently in our communication. On our barrier-free website you will find content in ‘Leichte Sprache’, which is a specifically regulated simple language. Its purpose is to make information easier to understand for people with a limited knowledge of German. Please note that ‘Leichte Sprache’ is only available in German. Additionally, videos with important information are filmed in German sign language. All medal decisions will also be made available to spectators with visual impairments as audio descriptions - both on-site at the events with the help of mobile, inductive hearing aids and in a livestream for at home.
Trained volunteers will also be available to our guests as contact persons on the entire site. During the medal ceremonies there will also be volunteers who can communicate in German sign language and who will be happy to help with finding a place or with any other questions or concerns. All services can be booked free of charge online via a form at munich2022.com/en/inclusive-services.
At each of our events there are designated places for wheelchair users (plus appropriate places for the respective accompanying person) with optimal visibility and escape route conditions as well as sufficient space for manoeuvres. In Olympiapark, people with mobility impairments also have the opportunity to borrow electric scooters free of charge at the Olympiazentrum stop (opening hours from 09:00 to 23:30). The time limit for borrowing an E-scooter is six hours.
Click here for more information: https://www.munich2022.com/en/accessibility-inclusion