Rower Alexandra Viney will steer Tasmania’s Paralympic Games involvement as the state seeks to build on its impressive Olympic performance in Paris
The six medals claimed by Tasmanians just a few weeks ago represented the state’s second best Olympic haul - bettered only by the previous Games in Tokyo.
And now Viney hopes to prolong that success and improve on her fourth-place finish at the 2020 Paralympics.
The Launceston-born 32-year-old will again contest the PR3 mixed coxed four when she takes to the water at the Vaires-sur-Marne Stadium.
Heats are scheduled for 8.10pm on Friday (Tasmanian time), with repechage at 7.30pm on Saturday and the B and A finals at 6.50pm and 8.30pm respectively on Sunday.
The PR3 category is for rowers who have functional use of their legs, trunk and arms, can utilise the sliding seat and are classified as physically impaired.
One of three Tasmanians who competed at the delayed 2020 Paralympic Games in Japan, Viney was in the PR3 mixed coxed four crew (with Nikki Ayers, Thomas Birtwhistle, James Talbot and cox Renae Domaschenz) which finished second in their heat, first in the repechage and fourth in the final in a time of 7:34.73. She will fly the state flag solo in France (alongside Birtwhistle, Susannah Lutze, Tobiah Goffsassen and cox Hannah Cowap) as her unconventional rowing career continues to shine in the international spotlight.
During her final year of school rowing at Launceston Grammar in 2010, Viney's crew went undefeated and claimed the prestigious schoolgirls' eights race at the Head of the River regatta at Lake Barrington.
However, the night before her Grade 12 graduation, she was involved in a serious car accident in Launceston which left her with lasting impairments to her left elbow, forearm and hand.
In 2012, believing that her time as an athlete had passed, Viney moved to Victoria to study a Bachelor of Exercise Science majoring in sports nutrition at Deakin University. After graduating, she began working as a sport scientist and strength and conditioning coach in Geelong. In November 2018, after learning that she could compete as a para-athlete, Viney resurrected her rowing dream with Barwon Rowing Club and within three months was selected for the Australian senior team in the PR3 mixed coxed four.
She made her international debut at the Gavirate International Para Regatta in May 2019, finishing second. The crew then placed fourth at her maiden world championships to qualify a spot at the 2020 Paralympic Games.
In 2022, Viney won a silver medal with Alex Vuillermin in the PR3 coxless pair at the World Rowing Championships, backing it up with a fourth in the PR3 mixed coxed four.
At the World Rowing Cup in Poland in June, the crew of Viney, Lutze, Goffsassen, Birtwhistle and Cowap finished fifth.
Now representing Melbourne’s Mercantile RC, Viney continues to raise awareness around road safety, mental health, women in sport and opportunities for people with impairments.