Rowing wraps up at Glasgow’s European Championships

For immediate release
Glasgow, 5 August 2018

The 2018 European Rowing Championships concluded with two days of finals at the Strathclyde Country Park regatta course in Glasgow, Great Britain.

Comprising of 17 finals, Romania proved their European rowing prowess by topping the medals table with seven medals – three gold, two silver and two bronze medals. The women’s pair started the gold medal run when Madalina Beres and Denisa Tilvescu won ahead of the Netherlands and Italy. Beres and Tilvescu then joined their nation’s women’s eight later the same day and picked up another gold medal.

The third gold for Romania went to the men’s four crew of Ciprian Huc, Stefan-Constantin Berariu, Cosmin Pascari and Mihaita-Vasile Tiganescu who held off Great Britain to win the race. France finished in third.

These European Championships proved to be successful for France which finished second on the medals table. They won a total of five medals including two golds. The French women’s double sculls secured a surprise win when Helene Lefebvre and Elodie Ravera-Scarmozzino outsprinted the Netherlands and the favourites, Lithuania to the line.

“We didn’t know when we crossed the line if we were on the podium or not, because we stayed so focused in on our boat,” said Ravera-Scarmozzino after the race, “so after we crossed the line, to look up and see our name on the top of the screen – amazing.”

The French men’s double sculls picked up the second gold for their nation – again an unexpected result over the favoured British crew. Matthieu Androdias and Hugo Boucheron performed a closing sprint that saw them race from fourth into first in the closing 250m. Romania was second and Great Britain third.

The regatta had 32 countries competing and medals were won by 17 nations. Italy finished third behind Romania and France with six medals, two of them gold. Switzerland was fourth and Norway fifth.

This is the first time the multi-sport European Championships has taken place and rowing is one of seven founding sports in this innovative new event. The seven sports – rowing, athletics, aquatics, gymnastics, cycling, triathlon and golf – were staged between the host cities of Glasgow and Berlin. The event continues until 12 August. Rowing took place at Strathclyde Country Park, just outside of Glasgow, from 2-5 August 2018. The European Championships in this form is planned to take place every four years.

The European Rowing Championships comprises of the 46 European national rowing federations, including Israel. The Championship events includes 18 boat classes (14 Olympic events plus four International events).

In 2019 the European Rowing Championships will return to being just for rowing and will take place in Lucerne, Switzerland. It returns to the start of the rowing season from 31 May to 2 June 2019.

For results, race reports, quick quotes, live blog, photos and video go to: www.worldrowing.com
For free photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/worldrowingofficial

The World Rowing season now moves on to the 2018 World Rowing Junior Championships. This will be held from 8 to 12 August in Racice, Czech Republic.