FARNHAM’S Rachel Morris has won a gold medal in her third Paralympics, bringing her medal tally to three: gold in Beijing in 2008, bronze in London in 2012 and now a gold medal in the Rio Paralympics, but in a new sport – rowing.

Her first two medals were in handcycling, but in 2013 she was looking for a new challenge and took up rowing with the encouragement and support of the Guildford Rowing Club.

Less than three years on, she is the Paralympic champion in the arms-shoulders women’s single scull (ASWx1 Class) and holder of a new world record and Paralympic best time for her class over the 1000m course.

Rachel’s international rowing debut was in 2014 when she won a silver medal in the World Cup in Aiguebelette and subsequently finished fifth in that year’s World Championships. In 2015, she qualified her boat for Rio 2016 by taking silver in the World Championships in Aiguebelette.

In June this year, she won the first gold of her international rowing career when she won at the Poznan World Cup and set a new world best time for her class.

After spending most of August in residential training camps in Spain and a pre-Paralympic camp at Caversham, she set off with the GB rowing squad on September 1 and was immediately into race-day timings.

With racing starting at 8.30am at a venue about 20km from the Paralympic village, Rachel was up at 3.30 for the week up to her races, so that the pre-race timing could be perfected. She admitted to race-day nerves, but declared: “I will focus on the moment and the process and only worry about my own performance.”

The Rio Paralympic rowing regatta course was at the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, known locally as Lagoa, which is situated 20 minutes walk inland from Ipanema Beach. The Lagoa is a large expanse of water with a five-mile shore line and towering above it is the Corcovado Mountain, rising up to 2,329ft and topped by the Christ the Redeemer statue.

Rachel praised the Rio set-up: “The village and the Lagoa venue are both really top quality and the Rio committee have done a fantastic job getting everything ready for us.”

Racing was held from September 9-11 with the rowers from 12 countries divided into two heats on the first day, the winner of each heat getting an automatic place in the finals and the remainder having to race again on September 10 in the repecharges to achieve a place in the A Final on the Sunday.

Rachel took a strong early lead in her heat over Brazil’s Claudio Santos, a 2015 world finalist and former world champion. At 350 metres, the British rower was a length ahead and at 500m she held her lead in lane one, in relatively flat water and overcast conditions.

For the final 250m, she was able to control the race and crossed the line in 5-32.15, some six seconds ahead of Santos.

Family members in the stands realised that Rachel had a lot in reserve as she crossed the line. She later described the race as a “settling one”. “It was good to get that first out of the way and now tomorrow can be about preparing for the final rather than racing repecharges.”

The opposing heat caused more excitement, with the little-known Wang Lili of China winning her heat in 5.21.04, forced on by a strong final sprint from the reigning world champion, Moran Samuel of Israel.

Commentators wondered if Wang Lili could be beaten in the final after she had set a new Paralympic best time, but Rachel’s supporters knew that her time was over 11 seconds slower than the world best time she had set earlier in 2016.

The morning of the final was sunny, hot and with mirror-like water conditions. Five of the six finalists were world finalists at the same time in 2015, with Wang Lili the only ‘new kid on the block’.

Wang and Samuel led from the start and up to the 500m mark, with Rachel Morris in fourth. She then began to push through with 350m to go and by the 750m mark she was in second place and closing on Wang who she subsequently passed and kept moving on to win the gold by three seconds. Wang took the silver, nearly four seconds ahead of third-placed Moran. Rachel’s time of 5.13.69 also set a new Paralympic record, over 16 seconds faster than the London 2012 winning mark.

Asked about being only fourth at the mid point of the race, she said: “I stuck to my race plan and did not race the plan of the others. I knew I would be able to accelerate at 900m and again at the 950m mark if I stuck to my plan.

“I’m really happy after I got such an appalling start. It’s probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It shows that if you have stuff drilled into you day in, day out, do what coaches tell you, it works.”

Quizzed about the transition from handcycling, she said: “It was much harder than I thought it would be. Cycling isn’t technical, it’s a physical challenge. I found the technical side of rowing much harder to adapt to.”

Rachel paid tribute to the family and friends who had travelled to Rio to support her.

Wearing “Row Rachel Row” t-shirts and waving union flags, her supporters joined with the other UK relations and friends who had travelled to Rio to cheer on all the GB rowers.

Those family members not able to travel to Rio to support Rachel, were joined by friends and club members to watch the race at Guildford Rowing Club.

The day after her race, Rachel had many media commitments, but managed to get away for a swim in the sea on Ipanema Beach with her sister.