World medals for Romanian rowing

Romania had a great finish at the World Rowing Championships hosted by Serbia's capital  Belgrade this year. On the final day of the competition, on Sunday, Romanian rowers won two gold medals.

The first one came in the women's double sculls as defending Olympic champions Ancuţa Bodnar and Simona Radiş finished the race ahead of Lithuania and the US, the crews in second and third place, respectively. The next to win the gold were Romania's women's eight, made up of Magdalena Rusu, Roxana Anghel, Adriana Adam, Iuliana Buhuş, Mădălina Bereş, Amalia Bereş, Maria Tivodariu, Ioana Vrînceanu and Victoria-Ştefania Petreanu. They finished ahead of US and Australia, who came in second and third, respectively. On the previous day, on Saturday, Romania's women's four, made up of Mădălina Bereş, Maria Tivodariu, Magdalena Rusu and Amalia Bereş, won the silver medal; while two bronze medals came from Ioana Vrînceanu and Roxana Anghel in the women's pair and from Mariana-Laura Dumitru and Ionela Cozmiuc in the lightweight double sculls. In the men's races, Romania's men's eight finished fourth, behind Great Britain, The Netherlands and Australia and, despite failing to win a medal, did secure their qualification for the Paris Olympic Games next year.

Shortly before the start of the championships, the president of the Romanian Rowing Federation and head of the National Agency for Sport Elisabeta Lipă, who was the first rower in the  world to win eight Olympic medals, said the goal of the federation in Belgrade was to make sure as many crews qualify for the Paris Games. 11 Romanian crews out of the 13 that took part in the world championships have qualified for the Olympic Games to be hosted by the French capital between the 26th July and the 11th August 2024. At the previous edition of the Olympic Games, hosted by Japan, Romanian rowers won three medals, one gold in the women's double sculls and two silver in the men's four and men's pair, finishing fourth in the general classification.

With the five medals won the World Rowing Championships in Belgrade, Romania ranked fourth, behind The Netherlands, Great Britain and Italy. Last year, at the World Championships in Račice, in the Czech Republic, Romania won four medals. (CM)