A glow for Belarus and Greece at European Champs

Belarus finally got to witness international rowing in their home country, thanks to a newly built international regatta course and the hosting of this year’s European Rowing Championships in Brest. Belarus finally got to see their hero, Ekaterina Karsten-Khodotovitch race and Karsten gave them what they had come to see. Belarus went on to also take medals in the men’s quad and the women’s eight. Meanwhile Greece put themselves at the top of the medals table by taking an impressive four golds.

Women’s Single Sculls (W1x)

Belarus won their first medal at these European Championships and they did it with the woman who has led the country’s rowing ever since the nation gained independence from the Soviet Union. Ekaterina Karsten-Khodotovitch can take pride in being one of the reasons this international regatta course got built. She won Olympic gold in 1996 and again in 2000. This year was the sixth time she became a World Champion.

There is no doubting the admiration felt for Karsten in Belarus as the crowd clapped in time to Karsten rowing into the dock to face cameras and television crews.

Karsten executed a beautifully designed negative split race to show the home crowd her true talent. Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic gave it all she had to chase Karsten down, but Knapkova could do nothing with the Belarusian getting faster and faster as the race progressed. Karsten was all class, constantly rating a couple of pips above Knapkova. Karsten left nothing to chance. An exhuberant Karsten crossed the line in first. An exhausted Knapkova finished second and Russia’s Julia Levina takes third.

Results: BLR, CZE, RUS, SWE, SUI, UKR

Ekaterina Karsten-Khodotovitch (BLR) – gold
“I’m so proud of my country, I’m always trying to do my best! That’s it!” Ekaterina Karsten-Khodotovitch

Mirka Knapkova (CZE) – silver
“It was difficult to compete with Ekaterina in her home country; she has a lot of fans. Besides, I didn’t feel good before the race, so I think it’s a good result for me”. Mirka Knapkova

Men’s Single Sculls (M1x)

The six scullers coming into this race knew that they all had a chance of becoming the European Champion. There were only three seconds separating the entire field. Lightweight sculler Frederic Dufour of France jumped off the line in first with just three seconds separating the fleet after 500m had been rowed. But then going through the middle 1000m of the race, the field began to spread out quite remarkably. Bulgaria dropped right back while Mindaugas Griskonis of Lithuania had moved clearly into the lead.

Surprisingly Griskonis had almost lost an oar at the 100m mark, but he managed to quickly get his rhythm back and leave that bad stroke far behind. Griskonis now began to dominate with only reigning European Champion Ioannis Christou of Greece within striking distance.

Griskonis continued to charge away from the field and, although Christou gave all to come back on Griskonis, the Lithuanian was in the great position to counter any move that Christou may have. Taking his stroke rate to 36, Griskonis continued to lead until the final buzzer. Christou had to settle for silver with Croatia’s Mario Vekic charging through at the end to be the bronze medallist.

Results: LTU, GRE, CRO, SVK, FRA, BUL

Mario Vekic (CRO) – bronze
“This is a very nice course and a nice city. I would like to come back. I am absolutely satisfied with my result, my timing here was ok.” Mario Vekic

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x)

As commentator David Goldstrom said, ‘this is all about Greece’. Christina Giazitzidou and Alexandra Tsiavou of Greece are the reigning World Champions and they faced this year’s silver medallists Magdalena Kemnitz and Agnieszka Renc of Poland.

Giazitzidou and Tsiavou got off the line first and held their stroke rate at 42 for a good portion of the race’s start. This duo teamed up earlier this season after Tsiavou’s Olympic partner retired. The young combination is working well as the duo settled into a high 36 stroke rate pace. Kemnitz and Renc looked like they had no answer and sat an open water length back in second. Could anyone challenge the Greeks?

Giasitzidou and Tsiavou held their aggressive 36 stroke rate and continued to charge on turning this race into a procession. Meanwhile a huge finishing sprint by Austria (Stefanie Borzacchini and Michaela Taupe-Traer) brought them out of the fourth place and into the bronze medal position.

Results: GRE, POL, AUT, HUN, RUS, FRA

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x)

As the wind turned around to a tail, Greece hit the water again. And again they were flying. Vasileios Polymeros and Dimitrios Mougios of Greece are the defending European Champions and Beijing Olympic medallists. With that pedigree the Greeks had the confidence to jump out into the lead at the start and challenge anyone to overtake them.

Italy’s Lorenzo Bertini and Elia Luini did their best to hold on to the Greeks and they did a fine effort through the first half of the race. But then Polymeros and Mougios, rating a solid 34 through the body of the race, managed to move away from the Italians. Meanwhile France’s Pierre-Etienne Pollez and Maxime Goisset were having a huge battle with Austria. In the sprint to the line Greece continued to hold the pace. Italy remained in second and France held off Austria to take third. Greece gain their fourth gold medal of this regatta.

Results: GRE, ITA, FRA, AUT, POR, POL

Dimitrios Mougios, Vasileios Polymeros (GRE) – gold
“We’re the champions! Thank you for everything, that was really great.” Dimitrios Mougios

Lorenzo Bertini, Elia Luini (ITA) – silver
“It’s a beautiful rowing course, we really were aimed at winning, but the problem is the wind. And our competitors who are very strong.” Lorenzo Bertini

Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-)

The Germans are the reigning World Champions in this event, but they knew that they had a big challenge on their hands in the form of France. The many coaches on bike following the race knew this was going to be a tough one. France showed right from the start that they meant business. Jean-Christophe Bette, Fabien Tilliet, Franck Solforosi and Fabrice Moreau of France jumped off the line first leaving Germany back in fourth wondering what they were going to do.

Serbia, stroked by Milos Tomic were the crew holding the best onto France’s opening pace, but the race was close across the entire six crews. Going through the half-way point, just over three seconds separated the entire fleet meaning all crews had a shot at challenging France. Then Italy and Spain began to drop back with Germany now coming into their own to overtake Serbia and move into second. Germany then attacked France. France responded brilliantly. Germany attacked again. France held them off.

Results: FRA, GER, SRB, CZE, ITA, ESP

Matthias Schoemann-Finck, Jost Schoemann-Finck, Jochen Kuehner, Martin Kuehner (GER) – silver
“It really is a great rowing course. This race showed us a lot, we understood each other perfectly! But still it’s only a silver medal.” Jochen Kuenher, Martin Kuenher

Women’s Quadruple Sculls (W4x)

Ukraine are the reigning World Champions and despite the crew all being in their mid-20s, they are a very experienced crew. Today they made easy work of this final. Getting off the line first and taking the lead within the first five strokes, Ukraine moved quickly to an open water lead settling into a comfortable 32 stroke rate pace. This left the real race to go on behind them. The young Romanian crew had got themselves into second but Italy was pressing hard. Sitting in the Italian boat were Gabriella Bascelli and Laura Schiavone who had won a gold medal in the double earlier today.

Coming into the final sprint Ukraine remained well out in front with Italy, rating 37, coming through into second. Romania held on to the bronze medal.

Results: UKR, ITA, ROU, BLR, RUS

Svitlana Spiriukova, Tetiana Kolesnikova, Anastasiia Kozhenkova, Yana Dementieva (UKR) – gold
“We certainly wanted to show our best. The water was uneasy, but this was our last start this year, so we did our best to achieve this result.” Anastasiia Kozhenkova

Erika Bello, Gabriella Bascelli, Laura Schiavone, Elisabetta Sancassani (ITA) – silver
“The place is amazing, nice and helping people. We expected a medal and are satisfied. It’s so emotional to see your flag raising!” Gabriella Bascelli
“We’ve tried to do our best, really!! And we’ve managed.” Erika Bello, Laura Schiavone

Men’s Quadruple Sculls (M4x)

Ukraine took the lead in this race, perhaps hoping to emulate their female counterparts. But the lead was small and with 500m rowed only two seconds separated the entire field. Ukraine (Zakharchenko, Pavlovskyi, Zaitsev and Gryn) showed that their opening pace was nothing to be sniffed at as they continued to hold the lead and even move away from Germany in second.

As the end of the race came into view, the crowd got louder and louder. Coming down the outside was Belarus. This crew had gone from being out of a medal spot to a 43 stroke rate and into the medals. A photo finish for second and third left the audience waiting. Ukraine had finished first. Belarus powered through to take second and Poland’s “B” quad had to be content with third.

Results: UKR, BLR, POL, GER, BEL, RUS

Valery Radzevich, Kiryl Lemiashkevich, Stanislau Shcharbachenia, Dzianis Mihal (BLR) – silver
“Great thanks to our coach, he is an expert in his work! Our tactic is to hold on, it helps us greatly! By the way, fans, you’re the best!” Dzianis Mihal, Stanislau Shcharbachenia

Women’s Eight (W8+)

Romania had indicated earlier in the regatta that they meant business. They were second at last month’s World Rowing Championships and they have the talent to get back into gold. The young crew, who took over from the ‘old guard’ after the Beijing Olympics, got out in front at the start and by the half-way point the crew had a handy boat length lead.

Meanwhile Belarus and Ukraine were going head to head with barely inches separating these two crews through the middle of the race. As this battle went on, Romania moved away to establish a very comfortable buffer zone between them and the activities going on behind them. In a huge sprint to the line, buoyed on by the crowd, Belarus pulled through into the silver medal spot. Ukraine had to be content with bronze.

Results: ROU, BLR, UKR, RUS, POL, FRA

Roxana Cogianu, Ionelia Neacsu, Maria Diana Bursuc, Ioana Craciun, Adelina Cojocariu, Cristina Ilie, Camelia Lupascu, Eniko Barabas, Teodora Stoica (ROM) – gold
“We really anticipated this victory, because we have a great tradition of winning this event in our country. Besides, one of us, Roxana Cogianu has her birthday today, so this is our present for her.” Teodora Stoica

Nadzeya Belskaya, Natallia Koshal, Natallia Haurylenka, Volha Plashkova, Nina Bondarava, Hanna Nakhayeva, Volha Shcharbachenia – Zhylskaya, Zinaida Kliuchynskaya, Yaraslava Paulovich (BLR) – silver
“We’re a team, that’s very important! Our motto is to work without stopping!” Natallia Koshal, Nadzeya Belskaya, Zinaida Kliuchynskaya, Hanna Nakhayeva

Men’s Eight (M8+)

Arguably Poland comes into this regatta as the top crew. They finished fourth at last month’s World Rowing Championships which is the highest position of any of these crews. With that Poland took an aggressive start and settled into a high 38 stroke rate through the body of the race. This gave them the edge over Ukraine who was having an extremely close battle with France. France are the reigning European Champions and they looked confident coming into this final.

Coming through the third 500m Ukraine had broken away from France and in the process had moved up close to Poland. The Poles replied by upping their stroke rate a couple of pips and driving for home. Ukraine had to be content with silver.

Results: POL, UKR, FRA, EST, ITA, ROU

Andriy Pryveda, Serhiy Bazylyev, Anton Kholyaznykov, Valentyn Kletskoy, Andrii Iakymchuk, Dmytro Prokopenko, Andriy Shpak, Sergiy Chykanov, Oleksandr Konovaliuk (UKR) – silver
“We managed to win this medal in pretty tough conditions. Last year we lost, but this year we managed to compensate.” Andriy Pryveda, Serhiy Bazylyev