Daily Digest: Racing gets underway at 2026 European Rowing Championships

The warm waters of Italy’s Lago di Varese welcomed the best rowers from Europe as the 2026 European Rowing Championships began this morning with heats and preliminary races. Defending European champions posted fast times with a few surprises along the way.

Pritchard Vs. Perini

Heat one of the PR1 men’s single sculls saw a comfortable win for the reigning Parlympic, World and European champion Benjamin Pritchard of Great Britain. However, his time of 8:57.06 was bettered by Italy’s Giacomo Perini, who posted 8:52.30 in the second heat, finishing ahead of the silver medalist from last year’s World and European Rowing Championships, Roman Polianskyi of Ukraine. It’ll be exciting to see all three of these go head-to-head in the final on Sunday.

Henry looking to defend title

Great Britain’s Lauren Henry is the defending European Champion in the women’s single scull and was looking to be in fine form as she posted the fastest qualifying time in the heats. She finished in 7:18.11 with clear water ahead of Ukraine’s Kateryna Dudchenko. The remaining two heats were won by Belgium’s Mazarine Guilbert (7:26.13) and Serbia’s Jovana Arsic (7:21.95) respectively.

Another reigning European Champion

It was a similar story in the men’s single sculls with the Individual Neutral Athlete, Yauheni Zalaty, clocking the fastest time (6:42.92) across the three heats. The defending European champion posted 6:42.92 in the first of three heats. Heat two was won by the reigning Olympic Champion, Oliver Zeidler of Germany (6:46.45) whilst Switzerland’s Kai Schaetzle took the honours in the third and final heat, posting 6:43.80.

Romanian pairs do the double in heats

Romania clocked the fastest times across the heats in both the women’s and men’s pairs. The women’s pair saw the reigning World Champion in this boat class, Simona Radis, join forces with Adriana Adam, who claimed silver in both the women’s four and eight at last year’s World Rowing Championships. Their time of 6:54.05 comfortably beat Germany’s winning time of 7:02.63 in the second heat. Meanwhile, in the men’s pairs, it was a similar story. Romania’s Stefan Constantin Berariu and Florin Sorin Lehaci posted 6:19.19 in heat one, faster than the Italian’s time of 6:21.13 in the second heat. Could Romania do the double in tomorrow’s final?

More sweep success for Romania

They continued to show their dominance in the bigger sweep boats as Romania secured heat wins in the women’s and men’s four. The women’s four won the first heat, although Great Britain posted a faster time in the second heat. In the men’s four, Romania had clear water ahead of Germany in heat one and their time of 5:49.61 was faster than the development crew from Great Britain who won the second heat of the men’s four in 5:51.19.

Locals miss out on quads

The crowds were disappointed to see Italy miss out on a place in the Final in both the women’s and men’s quads. In the women’s event, Switzerland posted the fastest time winning the first heat whilst the reigning Olympic Champions, Great Britain, with a slightly changed line-up took the win. In the mens’s quads, Poland beat Romania by just 0.4 seconds to win the first heat whilst Croatia, bolstered by the vast experience of Damir Martin, held off a huge sprint from Germany to cross the line first.

Romania beat World Best Time in women’s eight

They were chased all of the way by Great Britain, but the Romanian women’s eight looked very impressive. Stroked by Simona Radis, they posted a time of 5:49,79, faster than the World Best Time set at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2021. Can GB catch them in the final on Sunday?

First of the semifinals

Today’s racing block finished with the first of the semifinals, with places for tomorrow’s final of the men’s double sculls up for grabs. They were as fiercely contested as expected with Italy squeezing Belgium out of the all-important top three by just 0.09 seconds in the first semifinal. In the second semi, Croatia’s Sinkovic brothers led for the majority of the race until the closing stages when Serbia’s Martin Kackovic and Nikolaj Pimenov, who have impressed all season, and Spain’s Caetano Xose Horta Pombo and Rodrigo Conde Romero came through to take first and second respectively.