Kathryn Ross (rower)
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 2016 Australian Paralympic team portrait of Ross | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname | Kat | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality |  Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 25 June 1981 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 165 cm (5 ft 5 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 68 kg (150 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coached by | Renae Domaschenz | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Kathryn Ross (born 25 June 1981)[1] is an Australian Paralympic rower. She is a four-time world champion who has participated at four Paralympics from 2008 to 2020, winning a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. She set a world's best time in the PR2 1X event at the 2019 World Rowing Championships.
Ross' leg became disfigured after her father accidentally ran over her with a ride-on lawn mower on the family farm in Warrnambool when she was two.[2] Both her right knee and ankle joints are fused together.[1] In 2021, she worked as a nurse in the Canberra Hospital emergency department.[3]
Rowing
She took up rowing in 2006 and won the female single category in the national championships in 2007.[1][4] Her club rowing is from the Australian National University boat club. She was partnered with the winner of the male singles championship, John Maclean,[4] and went on to win silver medals with him at the 2007 Munich World Rowing Championships and the 2008 Beijing Paralympics in the TA2x events.[5][6] After Maclean's retirement, she partnered with Grant Bailey, winning a bronze medal with him at the 2010 New Zealand World Rowing Championships.[1] When Maclean returned to the sport in 2011, she partnered with him to win a bronze medal at that year's World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia and two gold medals in the 2011 International Adaptive Regatta in Italy.[1]
Her partner at the 2012 London Paralympics was Gavin Bellis.[7] Bellis was slightly faster than Maclean at the Gavirate International Regatta in Italy in April 2012.[8][9] She did not medal at the 2012 Games.[5]
At the 2013 World Rowing Championships in Chungju, South Korea, she partnered with Bellis to win the gold medal in the Mixed Double Sculls TAMix2x. They were coached by Gordon Marcks.[10] With Bellis, Ross won back to back gold medals by winning the Mixed Double Sculls TAMix2x at the 2014 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, Netherlands.[11] This victory was ranked #39 in the International Paralympic Committee's list of moments of 2014.[12]
Ross and Bellis won their third consecutive Mixed Double Sculls TAMix2x title at the 2015 World Championships in Aiguebelette, France.[13] Ross and Bellis finished second in the Mixed Double Sculls TAMix2x B Final at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.[14]
After a break Ross came back into the Australian senior squad in the PR2 W1x in 2019 in time for the 2019 World Rowing Championships.[15] At the 2019 World Championships in Linz, Austria Ross won a preliminary final and then blitzed the A-final to claim her fourth career World Championship title.[15]
At the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, she rowed with Simon Albury. They finished first in the B Final of the Mixed Double Sculls PR2 Mix2x with a time of 8:56.69.[16]
She won a silver medal in the PR2 Single Sculls at the 2022 World Rowing Championships.[17]
