Romanian rowers on the European Championships podium

Romania came out second in the nations ranking at the European Rowing Championships in Slovenia

Daniela Budu, 29.05.2023, 13:50

Romania finished second in the medal standing by
country at the European Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia, with 5 gold
medals and a silver one.

The last day of the competition brought Romania most
of the medals. Ionela Cozmiuc won the champion title in lightweight women’s single
sculls, then Ioana Vrînceanu and Roxana Anghel did the same in the women’s pair
final, while world and Olympic champions Simona Radiș and Ancuța Bodnar won the
women’s double sculls race.

Last year, Ionela Cozmiuc won her first European
champion title in the lightweight women’s single sculls, which however is not
an Olympic event. She also won the event’s final at the World Championships in
the Czech Republic, and now she has added yet another gold medal to her track
record.

Ioana Vrînceanu and Roxana Anghel deployed excellent
tactics in the final, and came ahead of the Dutch team by over one second at
the end. Last year in Munich, Ioana Vrînceanu won the continental title
together with Denisa Tâlvescu.

In Bled, Simona Radiș and Ancuța Bodnar had the
toughest competition since 2019, when they won the silver medal at the European
Championships in Lucerne. They have dominated this event in all major
competitions since, by significant margins, as was the case last year both in
the European and the World championships. They have 4 European champions titles
in the women’s double sculls – in 2020 in Poznan, in 2021 in Varese, in 2022 in
Munich, and now in Bled.

The last day of the competition, Sunday the 28 May,
ended with yet another victory for Romania, in the women’s eight. The Romanians
defeated teams from Italy, the UK and Germany. Of the 9 athletes in the Romanian
team, 7 have 2 gold medals each in this year’s continental championships.

On Saturday, Romania had won another gold medal in
Bled, in the women’s quadruple sculls final. The Romanians defeated the UK and
Netherlands.

Meanwhile, the European and World champions Marius
Cozmiuc and Sergiu Bejan, who on Saturday won the European silver in the men’s
eight race, on Sunday finished way behind their opponents, finishing 5th.
In the men’s quadruple sculls final, the Romanian team were very close to
getting the gold, but in spite of a strong finish they were unable to catch up
with the French team. Last year, the same Romanian team won the bronze in
Munich. In fact, the European Championships in Munich in 2022 saw the best
performance in the history of Romanian rowing, with 5 gold and 3 bronze medals.
(AMP)