Wide spread of medals at 2014 European Rowing Championships

Of the 17 European Championship events,  rowers from 15 different countries won gold medals with Great Britain finishing at the top of the medals table, followed the Czech Republic in second and last year’s winner, Germany, in third.
 
Great Britain’s biggest successes were the men’s four and women’s pair with golds being collected in both of these boat classes. The men’s four had a stunning race; they lead for the entire race and won by a large margin while the pair of Helen Glover and Polly Swann also showed dominating form.
 
Germany, defending Olympic champion, proved powerful in the men’s eight by holding off Russia to take the gold. Russia’s silver medal was their first in the eight since the 2008 European Championships. The German team had the most medals overall including four silver and five bronze medals. The small team from the Czech Republic came away with two European Championship titles after winning both the men’s and women’s single sculls – Ondrej Synek for the men and defending Olympic champion Mirka Knapkova for the women.
 
Romania continued to dominate the women’s eight ahead of Great Britain and Germany. Italy’s Laura Milani and Elisabetta Sancassani won their nation’s sole gold medal when they successfully defended their title in the lightweight women’s double sculls. Just shy of her 42nd birthday, Belarus’ best ever rower Ekaterina Karsten won gold in the women’s quadruple sculls.
 
Overall, 20 nations won medals including a gold medal for Portugal in the lightweight men’s single, a gold medal for Switzerland in the lightweight men’s pair, a bronze medal for Ireland in the women’s single and, the most popular medal of the regatta, a gold medal  for the Serbia in the men’s pair.
 
The European Rowing Championships is in its eighth year of racing. Last year, it was moved from an end-of-season regatta to the start of the season and this helped the 2014 edition receive record participation.

For information about rowing, go to www.worldrowing.com. For information specific to the European Rowing Championships go to http://www.worldrowing.com/events/2014-european-championships/