Ed Fuller: Para-rower focused on retaining Great Britain’s world title

Paralympic champion Ed Fuller says he is relishing the challenge of defending the world PR3 mixed coxed fours world title.

The 22-year-old from Exeter was part of the Team GB crew who retained their Paralympic title in Paris last year and won gold at the World Rowing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia, in 2023.

Great Britain has won every Paralympic and world gold medal in the event since 2012 and Fuller is confident the crew can extend that run in Shanghai, China, later this month.

“I think everyone’s in a good place,” he told BBC Radio Devon.

“We’ve got a full team of returning Paralympic medallists from Paris so I think we should hopefully be able to carry on with the momentum that we gathered throughout the last cycle and hit the ground running for this cycle.”

For Fuller, competing in China will be a first having never travelled outside of Europe before.

He is looking forward to experiencing a new culture, but says it has involved the crew adding some new features to their training.

“Rowing is basically almost always done on small European rowing lakes with short haul one or two-hour flights,” he said.

“So a 13-hour flight to China and a massive time difference, and also the climate as well.

“We’ve been doing quite a lot of heat adaptation and basically just training in a really, really, warm, humid environment to try and get your body ready for the climate over there so that you can perform at your best and be prepared for it.”

And while the world title is the focus right now, Fuller is aware that it is an early test for Great Britain as they start their journey towards the next Paralympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028.

“It builds throughout the cycle, and every year the World Champs is the main one until the Games year,” said Fuller.

“If you zoom out on the bigger picture, everything is building towards that one race coming up in three years time.”