The Welshman had trailed Italy’s Perini during the first 1500m of the 2,000m event.
But Pritchard started his charge with 500m to go and eased to victory in the home straight, finishing with a time of 9 minutes 03.84 seconds.
Polianskyi pipped Perini at the finish to take silver, finishing more than 10 seconds behind Pritchard.
Having finished fifth in his Para debut in the 2021 Tokyo edition, 32-year-old Pritchard’s victory completes a remarkable journey for the Welsh rower.
Pritchard’s development in the Sport to become champion has been remarkable just eight years after suffering a horrific cycling injury in 2016 which left him in a wheelchair.
At the time Pritchard was a talented Triathlete when tragedy stuck in a race suffering spinal cord damage to the vertebrae leaving him paralysed from the rib cage down.
After bronze in the World Championships last September in Belgrade and a first title in the World Cup Poznan, Poland in the build-up to the Paralympics, Pritchard’s dream of becoming a Paralympic champion is now a reality.
“I had a massive disruption in getting to the Games and it was a big push just to get here,” said Pritchard, who is one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing them to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support – which has been vital on their pathway to the Paris 2024 Games.
“Once this year came around, we’ve had a pretty consistent season, but it has all been about this race and the process and it came off.
“The whole field has moved on 23 or 24 seconds in the last three years.
“Five athletes have now gone under nine minutes and any one of those five could have got a medal, so it’s really exciting and the closest the field has ever been in terms of medals, so it’s going to be great for LA.”
To read more of Ben’s story click here.
