PR3 Mixed Four Wins Silver at 2024 Paralympic Games

The U.S. PR3 mixed four with coxswain brought home a silver medal Sunday from the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium at the Paralympic Games Paris 2024.

The crew of Emelie Eldracher (Andover, Mass./Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Ben Washburne (Madison, Conn./Williams College), Alex Flynn (Wilmington, Mass./Tufts University), Gemma Wollenschlaeger (St. Augustine Beach, Fla./Temple University), and Skylar Dahl (Minneapolis, Minn./University of Virginia) finished three seconds behind Great Britain to earn the U.S. a third consecutive silver medal in the mixed four with coxswain event.

“Throughout the summer, it’s been amazing – getting to know each other even better,” said Flynn of the young boat of first-time Paralympians. “I’ve known Emelie since the 2022 world’s team, and it’s been crazy to see the program and the boat just grow and change. We’ve come a long way. It’s been really amazing to have these guys with me. We all have each other’s backs, and we know it.”

The American boat took an early lead, inching its bowball ahead in the first 250 meters, and was a bowball behind at the 500-meter split. The U.S. continued to maintain contact with the British boat into the second half of the race, trailing by a half-length at the midway point and just four seats with 500 meters to go.

“This boat went out with a plan, and if this boat is anything, it’s professional and mature despite our average age being 21, and so this boat went out and executed,” Eldracher said. “Everything that we said that we set out to do, we just attacked it each and every stroke. We were willing to make changes, we were willing to be brave, and I’m so grateful that we got to do it together.”

At the line, Great Britain won the race in a 6:55.30, extending their winning streak in the event at the Paralympic and world championships level to 14 straight. The U.S. finished 3.29 seconds behind in a 6:58.59. France took the bronze medal by 0.06 seconds over Germany, clocking a 7:03.11 to round out the podium.

“I don’t think age has ever been a factor that we even think about,” said Dahl about racing the experienced British boat. “We really try to capitalize on what we do have, and we’re trying to use our age to our advantage. We all are either in college or are recent graduates. We have a lot of intense training all the time, so we try to use that on the water.”

“We saw the British boat set the world record two days ago, so you know that if you want to get a medal here, you’ve got to be the best of the best and the best potentially ever. I think that was something that drove us this summer. It’s a really cool feeling to now have a medal ourselves and know that we really did something very special this summer, the last couple of weeks, and then today.”

Earlier in the day, the PR3 mixed double sculls crew of Todd Vogt (Rochester, N.Y./University of Buffalo/Portland Boat Club) and Saige Harper (Easthampton, Mass./Sacred Heart University) dominated the B final, winning the race by more than 28 seconds to claim seventh place overall.

“As soon as we crossed and made sure that (we) weren’t going to pass out and we were good, Todd said, ‘Wait, take a second and soak it in.’ He literally said that. I was cheering for the other teams. We were just so excited to watch them cross the finish line, too. It’s India’s first Paralympic rowing race ever, which is so awesome, and they killed it out there. It’s a monumental moment for us and everyone else, and we’re just going to soak it in for a little bit.”

The U.S. boat got off the line quickly, taking the lead within the first few strokes, and were never challenged. By the 500-meter mark, the Americans held more than a length of open water on India, and they extended that advantage to over three lengths of open water at the midway point of the race. Vogt and Harper didn’t let up over the back half of the course, continuing to pull away each stroke.

“I think we executed a full race,” Vogt said. “Yesterday, we basically did 1,000 meters all out and then hung on. Today, I thought we did everything. We had a nice start. We were pretty fast in our high strokes. We shifted down to base pace. We made our moves throughout the race and then we brought the rate up at the end. The whole enchilada.”

The U.S. crossed the line with a time of 7:48.38, with India taking second in an 8:16.96. Mexico finished third in an 8:28.23.

“It was great that we finally had a race that represented us as a team, as a boat” Harper said. “We talked yesterday about how it’s hard to rally after a race like that, and we were going to set new goals. I think today we met those goals and that’s really exciting.”

“In 20 years, I’m not going to remember what place we came in,” Harper said. “I’m going to remember that feeling of coming across that finish line and coming across the whole racecourse the way that we did. I think that’s how I put it all into perspective.”

Click here for a complete race schedule and results.

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