Sport

Mumbles para-rower wins back-to-back European titles following latest victory

04 Aug 2026 2 minute read

Para-rower Ben Pritchard named BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year 2025. Photo BBC Sport

Amelia Jones

Welsh para-rower Ben Pritchard has successfully defended his European title, extending an extraordinary run that sees him hold the European, world and Paralympic crowns simultaneously.

The 34-year-old from Mumbles retained the PR1 men’s single sculls title at the European Rowing Championships on Lago di Varese in northern Italy on Sunday, crossing the line in nine minutes 7.88 seconds.

Representing Great Britain and rowing for City of Swansea Rowing Club, Pritchard’s latest triumph further cements his status as one of Wales’ greatest Paralympic athletes.

Victory came on the same stretch of water where he claimed European silver in 2021, highlighting just how far he has come in the years since.

Pritchard’s route to the top of world rowing has been remarkable. Paralysed from the waist down in a cycling accident in 2016, he discovered rowing while rehabilitating at Stoke Mandeville Hospital before joining the British para development squad the following year.

The success continues a sensational period for the Swansea rower. Last year he became the first British PR1 sculler to win a European title, setting a world best time twice in three days before going on to claim world championship gold in Shanghai.

This season he has already broken his own Concept2 indoor world record and claimed victory at World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne by 15 seconds. His achievements have also earned him BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the Year and World Rowing’s Para Crew of the Year.

Pritchard has made clear he has no intention of easing off after Paralympic success, saying he wants to continue raising standards in the sport ahead of the Los Angeles Games in 2028.

His attention now turns to the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam later this month, where the Welsh star will defend the world title he won in Shanghai.

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