Italy rowing closes the European Championship by winning 8 medals (2 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze) and third place in the overall medal table behind Romania, second with eight medals but with two more gold, and Great Britain in the lead with 10 seals. Four medals arrived from the competitions on Sunday 28 April: gold in the lightweight singles, silver in the four without and bronzes in the four with Paralympic and in the women’s eight. Four medals which, added to those of the first day, bring the blue loot to eight seals divided as follows from an Olympic and Paralympic perspective: Olympic specialties, four for men’s pairs, gold; men’s four without, men’s lightweight doubles, silver; women’s eight, women’s lightweight doubles, bronze. Paralympic boats, men’s single PR1, silver, and four with mixed PR3, bronze. Non-Olympic Boat, Men’s Lightweight Singles, Gold. Returning to today’s races, the silver medal won by the four-wheeler from Varese stands out Nicholas Kohl, Giuseppe Vicino, Giovanni Abagnale and Matteo Lodo, who fought against Great Britain’s armament for the entire two thousand metres, which had to use all its strength to contain the final return of the blue boat. In the non-Olympic specialties, the gold won by Niels Torre in the lightweight singles should be highlighted, dominating the entire race with authority.
The first bronze medal came from the women’s eight, by Giorgia Pelacchi, Linda De FilippisAlice Gnatta, Aisha Rocek, Alice Codato, Silvia Terrazzi, Elisa Mondelli, Veronica Bumbaca and Emanuele Capponi at the helm, who snatched third place from Germany and attacked second-placed Great Britain to try to improve their position, while the gold went to Romania. The second bronze medal was instead won by the four with mixed PR3, a paralympic specialty, by Greta Elizabeth Muti, Tommaso Schettino, Marco Frank, Carolina Foresti and Enrico D’Aniello at the helm, who fought with Francia, second, and Gran Brittany, first, for the duration of the race. Fourth place, finally, for the doubles of Luca Rambaldi and Matteo Sartori and sixth for the two without Giovanni Codato and Davide Comini. In terms of qualification, this European Championship was a good starting point towards the Lucerne event, from 19 to 21 May, for the Olympic specialties of the men’s fours and eights and the lightweight and women’s eights doubles, and for the Paralympic specialty of the four with mixed which in the next few days, during the collegiate scheduled in Varese, will see the various formations better defined. Finally, from the two B finals came the eighth place of the women’s two-off and the eleventh obtained by the men’s singles. Now the national team will meet again, from 2 to 21 May, in Varese to continue preparation for both the Olympic and Paralympic qualifiers, which will be held in Lucerne from 19 to 21 May, and for the second World Cup event scheduled, again in Switzerland on Rotsee, from 24 to 26 May. Tomorrow the Under 23 national team will fly to Seattle, in the State of Washington (USA), to participate in the Windermere Cup on May 4th with the two cadet flagships.
Editorial board
Photo by Mimmo Perna
