European Universities Compete in Bydgoszcz

While the 2023 World Rowing Championships were taking place in Belgrade, some of the best university crews from across Europe were racing at the European University Sports Association (EUSA) Rowing Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Racing took place over a 1,000m course at the Brdyujscie Regatta Venue.

Held annually since 2005, the EUSA Rowing Championships offers an opportunity for crews formed of higher education students enrolled at European universities and colleges to come together and race against their counterparts from across the continent. Each crew will qualify within their own country, generally through their university championships in order to then represent their university on the European stage. The 2023 edition of the EUSA Rowing Championships welcomed students from 81 drawn from 20 countries.

For some of the competitors, it will be the highest level they ever race at while for others, it might be a springboard for representing their country at a higher level. However, the event also always sees competitors racing who already have international racing experience, and this year was no exception with a large number of rowers having raced at previous World Rowing U23 or U19 Championships.

The single sculls events were a prime example, and the high standard of competitors helped to provide fierce racing in those boat classes. The women’s single sculls was won by Janka Zsiros of Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary. Zsiros was the Hungarian entry in this boat class at the 2022 World Rowing U23 Championships. On this occasion, she got the better of Raminta Morkunaite who represented Lithuania at the World Rowing U23 Championships earlier this season, and at EUSA, was representing Vytautas Magnus University. The men’s single sculls saw a win for 2021 World Rowing Junior Championships silver medalist Enver Erman of Kadir Has University in Turkey.

Great Britain claimed gold in both the lightweight women’s and men’s single sculls with Annabelle Ruinet having moved from the double scull at this year’s World Rowing U23 Championships into the single scull to represent Royal Holloway University while Strathclyde University’s Ben Parsonage was dominant in every round of racing in the lightweight men’s single scull. Speaking after his race, Ben Said;

“Competing at EUSA this year has been an absolute privilege made so in particular by the fantastic event organisation and the hard-working support team behind us. I’m so proud to have come away with the gold , and so very grateful for the opportunity to race at this level.”

The eights events also provided close racing throughout the competition.  Nicolaus Copernicus University from the host nation Poland became EUSA Champions in the women’s eight and crew member Adrianna Paszkowska said “It was a great honour and memorable for experience for me. I love the fact that it took place in our country, Poland. It was our first start in this type of competition so we really didn’t know what to expect. We managed to win two gold medals – one in the women’s eight, and the other in the coxless fours, so my whole team couldn’t be more happy!”

In the men’s eight, it had looked like the host nation might be victorious also as Kazimierz Wielki University had posted the fastest time in the heats. However, in the final, it came all the

way down the line and the University of Tartu from Estonia was victorious, crossing the finish just 0.06 seconds ahead. Crew

member Markus Uibo spoke with pride about his crew’s achievement, saying;

“We went into the final with great confidence. We knew that we were able to win that race. The whole crew believed in it. Because the distance was only 1000m, the race went pretty fact. It really came down to the last hundred metres of the race where boat crews had the stroke rate up and were sprinting to the finish line. Just before the finish we got our boat ahead of theirs and won the race by 0.06 seconds. At first we weren’t sure if they beat us or the other way round, but then we heard the commentator announce the results. The win really meant a lot and we couldn’t believe that we actually made it. It really was a proud and a great accomplishment for us considering the nations that we had to compete against.”

During the Closing Ceremony at the end of the Championships, the University Sports Association of Poland was presented the EUSA Rowing Salver as best overall National University Sports Association at the 2023 Rowing Championships.

Full results and photos are available from the EUSA Rowing 2023 website.