2013 European Rowing Championships - Germany On Form in Seville

Racing began on 31 May and finished with finals in 17 events on 2 June. Germany scored a total of eight medals, three of them gold. The gold success came in the men's and women's quadruple sculls and the men's eight. All of these boats were London Olympic medallists and their wins indicate that Germany is already back on pace for the 2013 season.  

Also back on pace was Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic. In her first high profile race of the season, Knapkova controlled the race despite a gutsy performance from Magdalena Lobnig of Austria. The Czech Republic took the men's single sculling title as well after a well-judged race by Ondrej Synek ended in a comfortable win over early challenger, Marcel Hacker of Germany.

The women's eight was won by Romania with relative ease. This means that Romania remain unbeaten in this boat class at the European Championships. The eight included Cristina Grigoras and Andreea Boghian who also competed in the women's pair  and not only successfully defended their European Championship title, but scored the second of two golds for their nation in the process.

Back in 2002 Seville hosted the World Rowing Championships and at that event Serbia's Nikola Stojic raced in the men's pair. Stojic was back in to compete in that same boat class this weekend in Seville. This time Stojic and partner Nenad Bedik scored gold in an exciting race that saw London Olympic silver medallists, France finish in sixth place.

Croatia's Olympic silver medal men's quadruple sculls, like the French men's pair, struggled with form. Instead the race was won by Germany with a crew that contained three members of the Olympic gold medal boat. Poland and Italy took the lesser medals in this race leaving Croatia in sixth.

Italy had double gold success winning both the lightweight women's double sculls and the men's double sculls. Laura Milani and Elisabetta Sancassani came into the lightweight double race as defending European Champions and they proved that their speed was still there by leading over the strong German duo of Lena Mueller and Anja Noske. The Italian men's double of Francesco Fossi and Romano Battisti raced one of the tightest finishes of the day, crossing the line ahead of Lithuania and Norway by a small margin.  
 
The Lithuanian women went one better than their male counterparts in the double when they won their event with the new 2013 combination of Donata Vistartaite and Milda Valsiukaite. Poland finished second and in third Belarus boated a combination that included two-time Olympic Champion from the single, Ekaterina Karsten and Olympic medallist Yuliya Bichyk.
 
In 2014 the European Rowing Championships will be held in Belgrade, Serbia.
 
The next international event on the 2013 rowing calendar is the Samsung World Rowing Cup in Eton, Great Britain which goes from 21 – 23 June, 2013.

View the medals table here.
Watch the A-finals footage again here.