Race Report: Remaining European Champions crowned on Lake Bled

Lake Bled played host to another session of epic racing as the remaining finals of the 2023 European Rowing Championships took place.

Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls (LM1x) – Final

France’s Hugo Beurey was the early leader but Italy’s Niels Torre was hot on his heels, and Switzerland’s Andri Struzini also well in the mix. Could the home supporters lift Slovenia’s Rajko Hrvat too? By halfway, Torre had moved into the lead and Hrvat was also starting to make his move. The top four were so close, fighting for the three medals. As the scullers came into the final 500m, Beurey took the lead again, but Torre was going with him towards the line. Meanwhile the race was still on for bronze between Hrvat and Struzini. The noise from the Slovenian supporters just wasn’t quite enough and Struzini matched his performance last year’s European Championships, taking the bronze. Beurey’s time had set a new European Championship Best Time by half a second.

Result: FRA, ITA, SUI, SLO, DEN, GER

Lightweight Women’s Single Sculls (LW1x) – Final

It was a rapid start for Eline Rol of Switzerland but Romania’s Ionela Cozmiuc got her nose out in front first off the start. Rol soon moved into the lead, taking Greece’s Evangelia Anastasiadou with her. By 500m, the Greek sculler had taken the lead – she took silver at last year’s Europeans and was hoping to better that this year. In the second quarter of the race, Anastasiadou really started to open up a strong lead, ahead of Cozmiuc and Turkey’s Elis Ozbay. Rol had slipped into fourth place by 1000m as the field started to open up. Approaching 1500m, the reigning World and European Champion, Cozmiuc, started to pile the pressure on the Greek sculler – the gold medal was definitely still up for grabs! Cozmiuc took the lead! In the final quarter of the race, the Romanian began to move away, and there was simply no catching her. Anastasiadou had to settle for silver again while Cozmiuc’s sprint had earned her a new European Championship Best Time!

Result: ROU, GRE, CZE, IRL, TUR, SUI

PR3 Mixed Four (PR3 Mix4+) – Final

All eyes were on Great Britain in this one. Italy had a fast start, but there was very little to choose between the four crews in the first stages of the race. By 500m, Great Britain had established a quarter of a length lead over Germany with France sitting in bronze medal position. Great Britain continued to lead, but while they are perhaps used to having clear water, Germany was maintaining overlap and they were perhaps still believing that the race for gold was on. Into the second half of the race, Great Britain eventually established clear water, and started to move away from Germany. In the 500m, Germany started to wind for home and were initially closing the gap, but it wasn’t enough. Great Britain maintained their title as European Champions in this boat class.

Result: GBR, GER, GRA, ITA

Men’s Four (M4-) – Final

Romania flew off the start at 51 strokes per minute trying to stamp their authority on the race as they took the early lead, but the Great Britain and Poland were going with them and there was only half a second separating the top three boats 500m into the race. In the second quarter of the race, Great Britain moved into the lead and started to open up more of a lead over Romania with the Netherlands having moved into bronze medal position ahead of Poland. Great Britain had opened up a strong lead by halfway and the Netherlands had moved into second place, Romania slipping back into third. The British started to look really dominant – could anyone catch them? The race was on for silver though between the Netherlands and Romania. With 500m to go, the British crew had nearly 4 seconds advantage at the front of the field and they were starting to look firm favourites head of the Netherlands. Meanwhile France had come into the medal zone and were now ahead of Romania! GB continued to dominate

Result: GBR, NED, FRA, ROU, POL, SUI

Women’s Pair (W2-) – Final

The Jurkovic twins from Croatia were the fastest boat off the start and established the early lead with Great Britain and Romania narrowly behind. Croatia continued to lead at 500m where last year’s  DutchWorld silver medallists Ymkje and Veronique Meester had moved into silver medal position with Romania in third. By halfway, the Dutch duo had moved into the lead and Romania’s Ioana Vrinceanu and Roxana Anghel had also moved ahead of the Jurkovic sisters. In the third quarter of the race, the Netherlands boat was starting to look reasonably comfortable at the front of the field, and had established a lead of 1.51 seconds ahead of Romania with 500m to go, Croatia sitting in bronze medal position. Romania started to pile the pressure on in the closing stages and the Netherlands just didn’t have enough to respond. What a sprint from Romania, it earned them gold! Meanwhile, Spain’s Aina Cid and Esther Briz Zamorano had despatched Croatia and claimed the bronze. What a finish!

Result: ROU, NED, ESP, CRO, GBR, GER

Men’s Pair (M2-) – Final

Spain and Romania were the fastest two boats off the start – Romania’s Marius Cozmiuc and Sergiu Bejan were wanting to reaining their title as European Champions. However, that lead seemed to dwindle as by 500m, where Spain had established the lead, and Great Britain’s Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George going with them. Lithuania and the new Swiss duo were also in the mix – this one was going to be a real battle! By halfway,  Spain were leading, but only narrowly ahead of Great Britain, and Switzerland now sitting in bronze medal position. The Spanish duo, Jaime Analejo Pazos and Javier Garcia Ordonez, were having to respond to constant attacks from Great Britain, Switzerland – in the third quarter, the gold medal could still go any way! Into the final quarter of the race, the action continued at the front of the field, the lead changing so many times. Great Britain eventually started to open up the narrowest of leads, and with Switzerland in second and Spain in third, Lithuania were starting to close the gap too. Switzerland wound up early – it was a photo finish for the gold. After a nervous wait, it was confirmed that Switzerland had stolen the gold from Great Britain by 0.10 seconds!

Result: SUI, GBR, ESP, LTU, ROU, SRB

PR2 Mixed Double Scull (PR2 Mix 2x) – Final

It was a boat class with several new line-ups so wide open. Great Britain soon established the lead in this race, taking the Netherlands with them. At 500m, Lauren Rowles and Gregg Stevenson had almost opened up a lead of almost a length ahead of the Dutch duo, Cornelis De Koning and Chantal Haenen and they continued to extend that lead. Poland’s Jolanta Majka and Michal Gadowski were sitting in bronze medal position, but only very narrowly ahead of Ukraine. In the third quarter of the race, Iaroslav Koiuda and Svitlana Bohuslavska of Ukraine had moved into bronze medal position. Great Britain and the Netherlands looked to be fairly set for gold and silver respectively. As the race came into the closing stages, the gold and silver continued to appear safe while Ukraine was having to respond to challenges from Poland for the bronze. GB took the gold, Netherlands the silver, and Ukraine the bronze.

Result: GBR, NED, UKR, POL, IRL, FRA

Women’s Double Scull (W2x) – Final

Lithuania’s Donata Karaliene and Dovile Rimkute were the early leaders, and looking comfortable ahead of the strong boats from Romania and the Netherlands who were sitting in second and third respectively. Romania, as reigning World and European Champions in this boat class were being put under serious pressure by the Dutch duo Roos de Jong and Laila Youssifou, and they were having to respond. There was an ocean of clear water separating the top three from the bottom three, but the medals were far from set. Simona Radis and Ancuta Bodnar of Romania are reigning World and European Champions in this boat class and as the race came into the final 200m, they started to pile the pressure on Romania, closing the gap every single stroke! The incredible final sprint from Radis and Bodnar not only allowed them to retain their title as European Championships, but it broke the European Championship Best Time in the process.

Result: ROU, LTU, NED, FRA, GER, IRL

Men’s Double Scull (M2x) – Final

Croatia’s Sinkovic brothers went off the start at 53 strokes per minute – they had a European Championship title to defend. However, it was Belgium’s U23 Champions from last year, Tristan Vandenbussche and Aaron Andries that established the early lead. Croatia started to pull up alongside Belgium and took the narrowest of leads at the 500m marker, with Spain’s Aleix Garcia Pujolar and Rodrigo Conde Romero not being left behind either. In the second quarter of the race, Italy’s Luca Rambaldi and Matteo Sartori moved into the medal zone too.  Belgium had slipped back into sixth and Stefan Broenink and Melvin Twellaar from the Netherlands had moved into third. Wow, this could really still go any way. Italy took the lead! Martin and Valent Sinkovic unleashed a huge final sprint and regained the position at the front of the field, it was a well-earned silver for Italy.

Result: CRO, ITA, NED, IRL, ESP, BEL

Women’s Single Scull (W1x) – Final

Aurelia-Maxima Janzen of Switzerland got the better of starts, ahead of reigning World and Olympic Champion Karolien Florijn from the Netherlands. However, by 500m, Florijn had established her cruising speed and moved into the narrowest of leads. Meanwhile, Serbia’s Jovana Arsic was in bronze medal position. By half way, Florijn had opened up more of a lead over Janzen with Arsic still sitting in third place, but only slightly ahead of Bulgaria’s Desislava Angelova. Into the third quarter of the race, the Bulgarian sculler moved into the medal zone, despatching Arsic, but Arsic reclaimed third position in the final quarter of the race. Florijn was absolutely flying and there was absolutely no catching her. Behind her, it was gold for last year’s World U23 Champion Janzen of Switzerland while Arsic had successfully held off Angelova to take bronze by less than half a second.

Result: NED, SUI, SRB, BUL, LTU, ESP

Men’s Single Scull (M1x) – Final

Greece’s Stefanos Ntouskos flew off the starting blocks but the early lead went to Dutch sculler Lennart van Lierop. Reigning World Champion Oliver Zeidler soon made his move and was just 0.46 seconds behind Ntouskos at the 500m marker. Into the second quarter of the race, Zeidler moved into the lead ahead of Ntouskos with van Lierop sitting in bronze medal position. At 1,000m it was still so close with Ntouskos challenging Zeidler every single stroke, and in the third quarter of the race, the Greek sculler took the lead once again. This was far from over and was going to come down to who could handle the conditions best. Van Lierop was having the race of his life and in the final quarter of the race, not only did he overhaul Zeidler, but Ntouskos too, and he moved into gold medal position, and then started to move away! There was no catching the Dutch sculler as van Lierop sculled to European gold, matching the win of Karolien Florijn in the previous race. What an incredible race!

Result: NED, GRE, GER, DEN, BUL, LTU

Women’s Eight (W8+) – Final

Romania pushed out to an early lead, going off at 50 strokes per minute. Stroked by Simona Radis who had won gold in the double sculls just an hour before. Great Britain found their speed and were trying to close in on the lead held by Romania and, by 500m, the British had taken the lead, sitting 0.38 seconds over Romania. Italy was sitting in bronze medal position in this race not to be last. Romania re-established lead in the second quarter of the race and opened up a 1.48 second lead by halfway. Germany appeared to be out of contention in this stage of the race. With 500m to go, the positions were looking fairly set and Romania soon defended their title as European Champions in the women’s eight.

Result: ROU, GBR, ITA, GER

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