Romanian Rowers Win 8 Medals at European Championships in Szeged, Hungary

At the European Rowing Championships in Szeged, Hungary, Romanian rowers won 8 medals: 4 GOLD, 2 SILVER, and 2 BRONZE. With this spectacular record, Romania occupies 2nd place in the national ranking.

The competition was very high and represented practically the first “test” of this year, before the Olympic Games in Paris. The objective was to see the strong points and where work still needs to be done so that the evolution of the rowers will be the best in Paris. The athletes gave their best and raced very well. At the same time, they learned from their mistakes where appropriate and are more determined than ever to become even better until the Olympics.

Elisabeta Lipă, president of the Romanian National Sports Agency,

GOLD Medals

• Lightweight women’s double rowing (LW2x) – Ionela Cozmiuc and Gianina van Groningen won the first gold medal for Romania at the European Championships in Szeged in the final of the LW2x event. It is the first medal Ionela and Gianina, world champions in 2017 and 2018, won together at a European championship.
• Women’s double sculls (W2-) – The team formed by Roxana Anghel and Ioana Vrînceanu dominated the race from start to finish and won the third consecutive continental title. Only the Camelia Lupașcu/Nicoleta Albu tandem has more medals won at the European Championships – 4 consecutive golds. Romania has 18 continental medals, 12 GOLD, 3 SILVER and 3 BRONZE in this event.
• Men’s double rowing (M2x) – Florin Enache and Andrei Cornea produced a pleasant surprise by winning the first gold medal in this event in the history of Romanian participation in the European Championships. Romania also has one silver (2018) and one bronze (2019) in its records.
• Women’s 8+1 (W8+) – The flagship boat of Romanian rowing, the women’s 8+1, in which Simona Radiș, Ioana Vrînceanu, Amalia Bereș, Mădălina Bereș, Maria Lehaci, Adriana Adam, Roxana Anghel, Magda Rusu and Victoria Petreanu won the 8th consecutive title. Romania only got the European bronze once in 2015 and missed the podium only once in 2016.

SILVER medals

• Men’s double sculls (M2-) – Florin Lehaci and Florin Arteni debuted with a medal as a crew in this event. The two Romanians did an excellent tactical race and crossed the finish line in second place, after Great Britain and ahead of Switzerland. It is the 5th double hull medal in European history, with 2 GOLD (2020, 2022), 2 SILVER (2019, 2024) and 1 BRONZE (2018).
• Women’s four-stroke (W4-) – Mădălina Bereş, Maria Lehaci, Magdalena Rusu and Amalia Bereş won the silver medal, being surpassed in the last 500 m only by the crew from Great Britain who took the gold. The Dutch crew completed the podium.

BRONZE medals

• Women’s double rowing (W2x) – Olympic and world champions Simona Radiș and Ancuța Bodnar won their first bronze medal. In the history of European competition, Romania’s double sculls have won 4 gold medals (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023), one silver (2019) and two bronze medals (2012, 2024).
• Men’s 8+1 (M8+) – The men’s 8+1 team consisting of Mihăiță Țigănescu, Ciprian Tudosă, Florin Arteni, Mugurel Semciuc, Constantin Adam, Sergiu Bejan, Ștefan Berariu, Florin Lehaci and Adrian Munteanu were surpassed by athletes from Marea Great Britain, who crossed the finish line first and those from Germany, who thus won the silver.

Romania’s rowing team, coordinated by coach Antonio Colamonici, is in preparation for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The European Championships were a helpful check, as the peak of the rowers’ form was to be reached in Paris.