Wins in the women’s four and quadruple sculls, men’s eight, and PR3 mixed double sculls left Great Britain at the top of the medal table after the first day of finals at the 2024 European Rowing Championships – but crews from six other nations also became European champions in a day of close racing.

Polianskyi back on top of the podium

The three Ps – Roman Polianskyi, Giacomo Perini and Benjamin Pritchard – have been the form scullers in the PR1 men’s single sculls for the past couple of years, and they were once again the three medallists in Szeged. But none had the race all their own way as Frenchman Alexis Sanchez led out, chased by Briton Pritchard in the early stages. Polianskyi was in his rhythm by 500m and had moved through Sanchez shortly afterwards, with Pritchard and last year’s European champion Perini also coming past the Frenchman. In the last 500m Perini, having overhauled Pritchard, was sprinting for Polianskyi, but the Ukrainian had done enough and the results replicated those of the 2023 World Rowing Championships.

Result: UKR, ITA, GBR, FRA, ISR, GER

Roman Polianskyi: “Due to the war we’ve had big problems with preparation. There was an alarm one day before our departure from Ukraine. I want to have more possibilities of a safe place to prepare. It’s a really hard situation, we don’t know what’s happening tomorrow.”

Benjamin Pritchard: “It’s great to get a medal. You’ve got to celebrate these small successes. It’s frustrating to be another bronze, but the field is getting tighter and closer so we’ve just got to keep working and see how we can change this bronze to silver and then hopefully to a gold in Paris.”

Skarstein stays in control

After being beaten by Israeli Moran Samuel in the preliminary race, questions were asked about whether Norway’s Paralympic, world and European champion Birgit Skarstein would be able to retain her title in Szeged. In the opening stages of the race it looked like Samuel might do it again, as she shot out to a big lead over the rest of the pack by 500m. But in a fascinating contest, the patient Skarstein worked her way back through the field, gradually closing up on a tiring Samuel. By 1300m the Norwegian had her bows in front and had brought Germany’s Manuela Diening with her as Samuel dropped back. On the line, Skarstein had earned another gold medal, with Diening securing a very good silver and France’s Nathalie Benoit taking bronze.

Result: NOR, GER, FRA, ISR, UKR

Birgit Skarstein: “This is one of the hardest races I’ve ever done. It was a really tough headwind and I was so tired. Moran (Samuel) was so far ahead, so my tactics were to not follow her but rather to stay with the French and the German boat and try to go through the wind instead of crash into it.”

Nathalie Benoit: “It was incredibly hard. It wasn’t clear who was behind, there weren’t big gaps. I learned from last year, I did a really bad start and then bit by bit worked my way back and finished second. So in this race I told myself keep going, don’t give up. My experience helped me in this race.”

Britain reverse 2023 result

At the 2023 European Rowing Championships Romania won the women’s fours ahead of Great Britain; this time around the reshuffled British crew were not about to let that happen again. Although Romania had their bows in front first, storming out of the blocks at a rate of 49 strokes a minute, the longer British stroke paid off in the middle of the race and they were leading by 750m. The positions did not change from then on, with Romania’s sprint not enough to hold off the British women. This is the first gold medal in this boat class for two-time Olympic champion Helen Glover, who last stood on top of the podium in the women’s pairs at the 2021 European Rowing Championships. The Dutch development crew took a good bronze medal, close behind Romania.

Result: GBR, ROU, NED, FRA, POL

Esme Booth, GBR: “It was a pretty exciting race again. It’s been pretty exciting going out and finding out where we’re sitting, it’s been good fun. Having the two races (World Rowing Cup I and European Rowing Championships) in a couple of weeks has been a bit of a challenge with recovery and training and balancing it all, but it’s actually been quite an exciting two weeks.”

Hosts on the podium

There was a popular, and well-raced, silver medal in the lightweight men’s pair as Bence Szabo and Kalman Furko worked their way past Moldova in the second half of the race. But the winners were never in doubt, with Austria’s Konrad Hultsch and Paul Ruttmann leading from early on to take a big victory.

Result: AUT, HUN, MDA

Konrad Hultsch: “It was a great race, the headwind is pretty stiff but it’s still good conditions to row. We are very satisfied with our race. We only spent 10 days in the pair, tried to qualify the double but didn’t manage in Varese, so it’s great to come here and row so well.”

First gold for Murray and Caddick

The four PR3 mixed double sculls contestants were pretty evenly matched and produced a fantastic race. Germany’s Hermine Krumbein and Jan Helmich led out, as they test a new combination this year, but the world bronze medallists Elur Alberdi and Laurent Cadot of France were in front by 500m. However, Great Britain’s Sam Murray and Annie Caddick, after a slow start, were now in their rhythm and came through into the lead by halfway. As France dropped back Germany and Ukraine came into medal contention. The Germans just had overlap on Great Britain at the finish, with Ukraine’s Dariia Kotyk and Stanislav Samoliuk third.

Result: GBR, GER, UKR, FRA

Sam Murray: “We just trusted our training that we’ve done through the winter, and we know we’ve got a really strong middle of the race, so credit to Annie for putting down a really strong rhythm for us.”

Britain overturn Ukraine in women’s quads

Ukraine’s women’s quadruple sculls crew – working towards the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta – has had a superb start to the season, winning gold at World Rowing Cup I in Varese and looking strong in their heat on Thursday. In contrast, world champions Great Britain finished off the podium in Varese, but turned things around when it mattered in Szeged. Ukraine were once again the fastest starters, tracked from the opposite side of the course by Switzerland, but the British quad steadily worked their way through the pack and their 1000m push was decisive, the momentum taking them almost level by 1500m and ahead shortly afterwards. Behind Britain and Ukraine, it was Germany that had the better closing sprint as Switzerland’s early pace took its toll.

Result: GBR, UKR, GER, FRA, SUI, ROU

Georgina Brayshaw, GBR: “The first one (World Rowing Cup I) was a bit of a disappointment, but that massively got our confidence back up. We took things from the first one that we could learn from, and we really buckled down over the past week and we’ve worked on them, and we put them into practice today and it worked, so we’re really happy with the fact that we kept our belief in the boat.”

Italy and Switzerland surprise

Poland were defending champions in the men’s quadruple sculls and on the basis of a strong heat performance, looked very much like they would win again. But Italy, last year’s silver medallists, had other ideas. They set off at a blistering pace and took Switzerland in the neighbouring lane with them, surprising Poland and Great Britain who took a long time to respond. By halfway the field had started to close up on Italy and Switzerland, and it almost looked like Poland would break through the Swiss, but the men in red responded well and their finishing sprint was stronger than Poland’s. In turn, Britain were unable to close in on Poland. Just over two seconds separated the first four crews on the line.

Result: ITA, SUI, POL, GBR, ROU, EST

Luca Chiumento, ITA: “It was a pretty difficult month because we had some problems to set the boat and there was something that we had to adjust. We came here in Szeged and the boat took shape. It was a really long race, but we have a good union now and it’s time to work.”

Romania back on top of podium

Gianina van Groningen and Ionela Cozmiuc were lightweight women’s double sculls world champions in 2018. In Szeged, racing their first regatta together after three years, they emerged triumphant to win again. The Romanians had the better start and held the advantage throughout the race, while Italy and Greece behind them chased for the minor medals. Greek duo Dimitra Kontou and Zoi Fitsiou earned a second silver medal in this event with a strong row that saw them hold off Italy. The Italians, Olympic champion Valentina Rodini and birthday girl Silvia Crosio, are the latest reconfigured combination in this boat class and seem to have found a bit more speed; they were able to stay in front of Great Britain, who did not have the sprint to close in.

Result: ROU, GRE, ITA, GBR, POL, SUI

Gianina van Groningen: “We are very happy, we were waiting for this title for like eight years. We got the world title twice, but never the European one. Now we finally got it so we’re very happy. I retired for one year and now I’ve come back. This means a lot.”

Swiss defend title

One of the few crews to defend their title on the first day of finals in Szeged was the Swiss lightweight men’s double of Jan Schaueble and Raphael Ahumada. Although tracked closely by Italy’s Stefano Oppo and Gabriel Soares in the early part of the race, the Swiss were largely able to control the race. Italy found themselves sucked back into the field, and in fact were third at halfway as Czechia’s Jiri Simanek and Miroslav Vrastil came into contention, with Norway also chasing up through the pack. In the closing 500m, it was Italy and Norway who found the extra speed, and the Norwegians Lars Benske and Ask Jarl Tjoem almost – but not quite – caught Italy on the line. Czechia were fourth, as they have been on a number of occasions previously.

Result: SUI, ITA, NOR, CZE, ESP, GER

Raphael Ahumada: “It’s certainly a big achievement, it’s always good in an Olympic year to have a confidence boost. We don’t have to sit on it, we have to keep improving, keep training to the big final competition.”

Gold for British men’s eight, but Germany chasing

A few years ago, the men’s eight was almost always a battle between Germany and Great Britain, but more recently the Germans have found it harder to reach the podium. Hard work over the winter, and some crew changes, seem to be paying off, and the men’s eights final in Szeged was spectacular. With the draw putting Britain in lane 6 and Germany in lane 1, to account for the crosswind, it was no surprise to see the defending champions, Britain, move out to an early lead and they seemed to be extending it at the halfway mark. But Germany had other ideas, and closed up almost a second on Britain in the third 500m. That forced British cox Harry Brightmore to respond and his men answered his call, moving back in front to their biggest margin of the race on the line. Germany were second, and Romania won bronze.

Result: GBR, GER, ROU, ITA, AUT, UKR

James Rudkin, GBR: “It was tough. We’ve had some close races in the eight in the last couple of years, so that was also a tough one. We’ve raced those guys for a long time and we know they’re always going to turn up and fight, so we’re very happy to come out on the right side and we’ll just keep pushing on our project for the only race that matters, which is the Olympics.”

Mattes Schoenherr, GER: “It’s a very nice feeling. It was a hard fight, and we are very happy to reach this goal. We have to work the next weeks that we can reach the goal again.”

Close racing in semifinals

The men’s pair, double sculls and single sculls semifinals were hotly contested. In the men’s pair, Romania were fastest out of the blocks in in semifinal 1 but were overtaken by Great Britain in the second half, as the Netherlands sprinted past Serbia for third place on the line. The Romanian men’s double sculls crew did win their semifinal, ahead of 2022 world silver medallists Spain; an impressive German crew won semifinal 1.

Racing at the 2024 European Rowing Championships concludes on Sunday with 12 more finals from 11:35 CEST.

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European Rowing Championships continue to excite in Szeged

Britain top medals table after first day of European Rowing Championships finals

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