European Rowing Championships continue to excite in Szeged

A full day of repechages at the 2024 European Rowing Championships in Szeged, Hungary, produced yet more close racing as crews competed for places in the weekend’s finals – with several improving from Thursday’s heats.

Pritchard wins, Zeelenberg misses out

Five scullers raced for four places in the final of the PR1 men’s single sculls and two-time world bronze medallist Ben Pritchard took the expected win, ahead of Israeli Shmuel Daniel and Alexis Sanchez of France. Dutchman David Zeelenberg was never in the race and was eliminated.

New combinations impress

Dutch rower Esther van der Loos’ comeback to international rowing continued on Friday with a good row in the PR2 mixed double sculls repechage, although she and Corne de Koning were beaten on the line by a fast-finishing Ukrainian boat. Anna Aisanova and Iaroslav Koiuda have come together for the first time this season and the combination seems to be working. In the race for the crucial fourth place, it was Germany’s new crew of Jasmina Bier and Paul Umbach who prevailed with a strong third 500m, knocking world bronze medallists Poland out of the final.

British coxed four extend winning streak

Although only racing a preliminary race, Great Britain’s PR3 mixed coxed four showed their desire to maintain their 14-year winning stream in this event. They took a commanding 16-second win, ahead of France and Italy who battled down the course for second and third. In the PR3 mixed double sculls, the three medallists from the 2023 European Rowing Championships – France, Ukraine and Great Britain – had a three-way battle for the preliminary race win, which Samuel Murray and Annabel Caddick took by almost 10 seconds with a strong second half.

Spain and the Netherlands find their form

After a dip in form at the end of last season, Spain’s Jaime Canalejo and Javier Garcia are working back towards the Olympic Games and they won their men’s pair repechage well over Lithuania and Germany. Meanwhile the Netherlands’ Niki van Sprang and Guillaume Krommenhoek have been reunited after they finished seventh at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, having qualified through the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta. They showed improvement from Thursday, with a good win in the second repechage, ahead of Czechia and France. In the women’s pair, Czechs Radka Novotnikova and Pavlina Flamikova missed out on the final at the 2023 European Rowing Championships, but progressed on Friday with a solid victory in the repechage. Germany took the second spot in the final.

Romania back on track

With four places on the line in the women’s double sculls, Hungary were the only boat really out of the running as defending champions Romania led out. Ireland, Switzerland and Great Britain were all in the dangerous fifth position at some point during the race – and it was the British double who lost out, unable to keep with the pace in the closing 500m. In the men’s repechages, three crews progressed to the semifinal from each repechage, with Greece and Great Britain winning the two races.

Struzina still in with a chance

After missing out on the final in yesterday’s heats, Swiss lightweight men’s single sculls world champion Andri Struzina is still in contention for another European medal following his second place in the repechage. However, Frenchman Baptiste Savaete beat Struzina after leading throughout.

Ukraine sprint to final

At World Rowing Cup I, Ukraine sprinted themselves into the men’s four final in the closing stages of the race – and they did the same again in Szeged. Sitting a second back on Poland at 1500m, Ukraine put on the power and stormed through to the second qualifying spot behind Switzerland. Poland faded badly, and will contest the B-final.

Lightweights and youngsters impress in men’s singles

Forced into the men’s single sculls after his lightweight doubles partner Fintan McCarthy had to sit out the regatta for medical reasons, Ireland’s Paul O’Donovan is racing openweight in Szeged. He missed the semifinals yesterday, but after a slow start was the clear winner in his repechage ahead of Emil Neykov. The 22-year-old Bulgarian has quite a reputation to live up to: his mother Rumyana Neykova is the holder of the women’s single sculls world best time, set in 2002. Another 22-year-old, Gennaro di Mauro of Italy, also reached the semifinals after finishing second to a blistering sprint from Belgian Gaston Mercier in repechage 1. Romania’s Andrada-Maria Morosanu and Bulgaria’s Desislava Angelova were the two qualifiers from the women’s repechage.

Hungary miss out in lightweight doubles

Just one boat would miss out in both the lightweight men’s and women’s double sculls, and that was Hungary twice over. The host nation’s crews found themselves a bit off the pace in both races. Spain won the men’s repechage, while Great Britain won the women’s after coming through from a slow start.

Close quads racing ends the day

The quadruple sculls repechages finished the day’s action, with some tight racing. Romania outsprinted France for the win in repechage 1 of the women’s event, pushing third-placed Poland out of contention for the final. Germany and Switzerland took the two qualifying spots in the second repechage. On the men’s side, the Dutch development crew raced well and were in second place until halfway, when Romania came through and hung on behind winners Switzerland.

Racing continues tomorrow, 27 April, from 10:50 CET. Follow all the action on worldrowing.com