Romania strong at inaugural European Rowing Under-23 Championships

Of the 21 boat classes contested, the highest number of entries were the men’s single sculls, with 18 athletes entered, and the lightweight men’s single sculls, with 14 boats lining up.

Boris Yotov of Bulgaria crossed the line first in the final of the men’s single sculls. Yotov has been racing internationally for seven years now. In 2013, he won bronze at the World Rowing Junior Championships and in 2014 he took silver at the Youth Olympic Games, also in the single.

In the lightweight men’s single sculls, Jan Cincibuch from Czech Republic won the gold, adding yet another title to his collection. Cincibuch is the 2016 junior World Champion as well as the 2016 junior European Champion in the men’s quadruple sculls.

On the women’s front, the two events with the most entries were also the single sculls, with 12 athletes lining up in the open-weight category and 10 athletes in the lightweight category. Swiss athlete Pascale Walker, a two-time under-23 world medallist in the single, won the open-weight boat class, while Norwegian Maia Lund claimed her first international medal, gold, in the lightweight boat class.

The Romanian women’s four, who are the current senior European Champions in this event, as well as this year’s under-23 world silver medallists, added the under-23 European title to their list of successes. Their line-up remained the same as at previous regattas with Cristina-Georgiana Popescu, Alina Ligia Pop, Beatrice-Madalina Parfenie and Roxana Parascanu. Romania also won the gold in the men’s four, with several of its members having also medalled internationally at the world junior and under-23 levels in recent years.

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Romania’s Ionela-Livia Lehaci and Gianina-Elena Beleaga became the world under-23 Champions in the lightweight women’s double sculls a few weeks ago, and this weekend they did not disappoint when they also claimed the under-23 European title. The newly-crowned under-23 European Champions in the lightweight men’s double sculls, Christian Hagemann and Alexander Modest of Denmark, also have prior medalling experience, with a silver from this year’s World Rowing Under 23 Championships in the same boat class.

In the women’s quadruple sculls, Romania claimed another gold medal. Two athletes in the boat, Elena Logofatu and Nicoleta Pascanu are the 2013 and 2014 junior World Champions in the women’s double sculls. In the men’s equivalent event, Poland took the under-23 European title.

Romania also crossed the line in gold in the women’s pair, with Madalina Heghes, an under-23 world silver medallist in the women’s four, and Iuliana Buhus. The men’s pair was also owned by Romania, with Mihaita-Vasile and Cosmin Pascari crossing the line first. The duo recently became world under-23 Champions in this boat class and also finished fourth in this event at World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne.

After becoming the European and then World Junior Champion in 2016 with another partner in the men’s pair, Ioannis Kalandaridis from Greece added another title to his name in the men’s double. He and Christos Stergiakas are the new under-23 European Champions. On the women’s front, it was the 2017 under-23 World Champions Tatsiana Klimovich and Krystina Staraselets from Belarus who took the under-23 European gold in the double.

In the under-23 men’s eight, Romania lined up nearly the same boat that won silver at this year’s 2017 World Rowing Under 23 Championships. This time they took the gold. Several of their athletes also competed in the eight at World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne where they finished fourth. In the women’s eight, Russia took the gold. They sent the same boat that won bronze a few weeks ago at the 2017 under-23 championships.

Poland’s Kruszwica regatta course is a natural venue situated in a landscape park protected by the programme Natura 2000, a network of nature protected areas in the European Union. It is a post-glacial lake with a rowing club located just by the shore. The members of Goplo Kruszwica Rowing Club have also previously hosted the European Rowing Junior Championships.

All 46 FISA-affiliated European national rowing federations including Israel were eligible to participate.

The 2018 European Rowing Under 23 Championships will be held in Brest, Belarus, from 8 to 9 September.

For detailed results, please click here. http://www.eru23ch2017.com/results.html