Romanian rowing, among the best in the world once again

Romania came out third at the World Rowing Championships.

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Florin Orban, 26.09.2022, 13:50

Romania won four gold medals at the World Rowing Championships in Racice, the Czech Republic, that ended on Sunday. The Romanian athletes are third in the nation’s medal count, after Britain, with 7 gold medals, 1 silver and 4 bronze and Italy, with 5 gold medals, 3 silver and 1 bronze. Ionela Cozmiuc brought Romania its first medal on Friday, in women’s single lightweight. A European champion, she was the favorite to winning the competition. She had a difficult start, however being only third after the first quarter of the race. She then managed to outrun the second boat, being shortly behind the first place at a difference of one and a half seconds. She finally secured first place, two seconds ahead of Martine Veldhuis of the Netherlands. Jackie Kiddle of New Zealand came out third in this category.

In the men’s double-scull event, Marius Cozmiuc, the husband of Ionela Cozmiuc and Sergiu Bejan won gold on Saturday. They are also European champions at this category while Marius won Olympic silver last year alongside Ciprian Tudosa. In Racice, Cozmiuc and Bejan finished the race by more than one second ahead of the Spanish team, who raked second and almost three seconds ahead of the British team, who finished third placed.

The Romanian women’s double sculls team made up of Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Radis, Olympic and European champions, brought Romania gold on Sunday. They had no problems in winning the race, almost three seconds ahead of the team from the Netherlands. Ireland ended the race third placed, more than five seconds behind the Romanians. One of the Romanian athletes, Ancuta Bodnar, turned 24 on Sunday, when she won gold. Simona Radis won another gold medal with the women’s eight crew. The Romanian boat dominated the race and was four seconds ahead of the second place, the Netherlands and six and a half seconds ahead of the third placed, Canada. Romania had not won the 8+1 category at a world championship since 2017, when they competed on Sarasota lake in Florida, the US.

The wins of the Romanian rowing teams come two years ahead the Olympic Games due in Paris. Given the recent results, Romania may bring home most Olympic medals in 2024. (EE)