Day two of the 2025 European Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria was another spectacle of speed. Or at least it was for the four Romanian speedsters in the men’s pair and double who lowered yesterday’s new European Championship best times. There were ten semifinals across five events, culminating in the men’s and women’s singles, which followed six small boat C and D Finals, and a first chance for the PR2 mixed doubles to test the water.
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Credit Benedict Tufnell
No need for a morning coffee caffeine kick for the German fans: their red, black, and gold clad crews won the first three races. Admittedly these were preliminary races but a good start, nonetheless. Spirits dampened for those cheering ‘Deutschland!’ after watching the second women’s single semifinal.
Paris Olympian and Under 2023 world best time holder Alexandra Foester missed out on the chance of another European medal: she finished in sixth place. Her teammate Marc Weber, on the other hand, kept his medal hopes alive by finishing third in the first men’s single semifinal.
A podium finish in this heavily subscribed event will be a big ask. At the front of the field Giedrisu Bieliauskas (LTU) went stroke for stroke with Olympic silver medallist Yauheni Zalaty (AIN1), who eventually squeezed out a handy margin of victory in the final quarter.
Tokyo champion Stefanos Ntouskos (GRE) is another Paris men’s single finalist in great form. The Greek sculler controlled the second men’s single sculls semifinal. Romania’s Mihai Chiruta placed second ahead of a crowd-pleasing performance from Bulgaria’s Kristian Vasilev. The hometown hero denied Davide Mumolo (ITA) and Olympian Tim Brys (BEL) a place in Sunday’s medal race.
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Credit Benedict Tufnell
After her best time blitz in the heat Lauren Henry continued to shine; winning the first women’s single sculls semifinal with lengths to spare.
“It’s been quite mad,” said Henry. “I’ve had so many messages, including from scullers who I’ve always looked up to, like former GB rower, Vicky Thornley. It feels amazing that I am now carrying on her legacy. We’ve only ever had two female scullers win medals at a world championships – Vicky and Katherine Grainger – and it would be so special to build through the season and see my name alongside them.”
Frida Sanggaard Nielsen came second, the Paris Olympian and Danish women’s four lynchpin is having a great sculling debut. Lithuanian Olympic bronze medallist Viktorija Senkute beat Mazarine Guilbert (BEL) to take third. It’s another near miss for the 23-year-old Belgian: her Paris Olympic dream died in Lucerne when she finished 0.1 seconds off third place in the 2024 Final Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Regatta semifinal.
2025 European Rowing Championships
Fiona Murtagh won the second semifinal. Ireland’s Tokyo women’s four Olympic bronze medallist was pushed hard by Evangelia Anastasiadou (GRE) and, another sculling convert, Benthe Boonstra (NED).
Before seeing Henry blast down the course, British fans enjoyed a ripping performance from their men’s quad. The Netherlands hold the Olympic title, but they’ve had a reshuffle. Even so, with the two-time Olympian Simon van Dorp in the three seat, they don’t lack horsepower.
The Brits trailed the Dutch by a bowball, before taking a bowball’s lead in the third quarter, then extending it in the final 500m. Germany placed third. In Sunday’s A Final they will meet Poland, the defending European champions and winners of the second semifinal, as well as Italy and Spain, who crushed Ukrainian and Irish hopes.
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Credit Benedict Tufnell
Small boat success came quickly for the Romanians. Florin Arteni and Florin Lehaci’s win in the second semifinal of the men’s pair never looked in doubt, and they chipped another two seconds off the European Championship best time, now set at 6:13.91. Their Olympic champion men’s double teammates, Marian Florian Enache and Andrei Sebastian Cornea soon followed suit.
Enache and Cornea, who set a new European Championship best time in their heat, clocked another today – 6:00.79 – narrowly missing the world best time of 5:59.72, set by Martin and Valent Sinkovic in 2014 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
“We are happy, it’s a fast venue. I was thinking that we can be faster,” said Enache. “I don’t care if today was 6:00 or 5:59, we try our best every day… I told the Sinkovics from when I was still young that I would be better than them, I hope this will become true, and one day we can break their record.”
Behind Romania a trio of ex-lightweights (and Irishman Konan Pazzaia) booked themselves into the A Final. Italy’s Gabriel Soares and Niels Torre stayed safely ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Hugo Boucheron and his teammate Victor Marcelot (FRA), who finished fourth. Poland, Serbia and Switzerland were the top doubles in the second semifinal.
Spain won the first semifinal of the day. The three-time European bronze medallists, two-time Olympians Jaime Canalejo Pazos and Javier Garcia Ordonez had to fight their way through the Italian men’s pair to claim the top spot. Switzerland secured third place. They will meet Romania, Lithuania and Greece in the final.
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Credit Benedict Tufnell
The highlight of the minor finals came in the women’s single sculls C Final. Tokyo Olympic lightweight women’s double silver medallist Claire Bové battled it out with Zoltana Gadanyi of Hungary to secure 13th place.
The aforementioned German hattrick came courtesy of the PR2 mixed double, lightweight men’s double, and lightweight men’s pair. There are three PR2 mixed doubles competing in Plovdiv: Ukraine and Israel are the other two, who finished in that order today behind Germany.
Triple Paralympic champion Lauren Rowles (GBR) made this event her own for nearly a decade, but for now she has returned to wheelchair racing. With Great Britain’s dominant double out of the picture a new European champion will be crowned.
Last year Germany, from an outside lane, rowed through the rest of the field and pipped Ukraine on the line to secure silver by just 0.38 seconds. But Israel, who finished last in 2024, went on to secure a spot at Paris ahead the Germans. All eyes will be on Sunday’s grudge match, first points go to Germany. Until then there are other titles to be determined.
Bring on Saturday’s racing, where the first European medals will be awarded.
