Paralympic champion Ed Fuller is embracing the challenge of defending the world PR3 mixed coxed fours title later this month in Shanghai, China.
The 22-year-old from Exeter was part of the Team GB crew that retained their Paralympic crown in Paris last year and also won gold at the 2023 World Rowing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. Since 2012, Great Britain has dominated the event, claiming every Paralympic and world gold medal, and Fuller believes the crew can continue that streak.
“I think everyone’s in a good place,” Fuller told My Newspaper Radio Devon. “We’ve got a full team of returning Paralympic medallists from Paris, so hopefully we can carry on with the momentum from the last cycle and hit the ground running for this one.”
Competing in China will be a first for Fuller, who has never travelled outside Europe. He is eager to experience a new culture, but acknowledges the long-haul flight, time difference, and climate have required adjustments to training.
“Rowing is almost always done on small European lakes with short one- or two-hour flights,” he said. “A 13-hour flight to China, a huge time difference, and the hot, humid conditions mean we’ve been doing heat adaptation training to make sure our bodies are ready to perform at their best.”
While the world title is the immediate goal, Fuller sees the Shanghai championship as an early milestone on the road to the 2028 Paralympic Games in Los Angeles.
“The World Championships build throughout the cycle and are the main focus until the Games year,” he said. “Zooming out, everything we do now is building towards that one big race in three years’ time.”
