SZEGED – Four medals for Italy (1-2-1) on the first day of the finals of the European Championship taking place in Szeged, Hungary. The medal that shines most of all is the gold one, won by the men’s foursome formed by the champions Nicolò Carucci, Andrea Panizza, Luca Chiumento and Giacomo Gentili, who dominated, from start to finish, the two thousand meter race, closing ahead, by half a boat, of Switzerland and Poland, who nevertheless attempted to hold their own against Italy.
An extraordinary race that confirms the growth of the blue boat. The first silver medal came from Giacomo Perini’s Paralympic men’s singles who, after a less than brilliant start, recovered shovel by shovel to come close to the Ukrainian Olympic champion Roman Polianskyi who won gold. The second, however, from the men’s lightweight double of Stefano Oppo and Gabriel Soares, who confirm the boat at the international top after eight years of continuity. In today’s race the two Italians, at the end of a hard-fought race, only surrendered to the Swiss crew, but placed themselves ahead of Norway, who tried in the final part to shorten the distance from them without succeeding.
The women’s lightweight doubles of Olympic champion Valentina Rodini and her boat partner Silvia Crosio are back on the podium with an unprecedented lineup, who qualified for the Olympics in the senior doubles with Stefania Buttignon last year.
A boat that does not yet have the Olympic pass, which it will try to grab next May in Lucerne during the last appeal with the five-round qualifiers.
At the foot of the podium the blue flagship of Matteo Della Valle, Jacopo Frigerio, Luca Vicino, Marco Vicino, Emanuele Gaetani Liseo, Salvatore Monfrecola, Leonardo Pietra Caprina, Vincenzo Abbagnale and Alessandra Faella at the helm, which, despite struggling to recover third position , had to surrender to Romania, bronze, behind the renewed Germany, silver, and to Great Britain which continues to dominate the international scene with its tough flagship.
In the B finals, from seventh to twelfth place, the women’s four sculls team placed first, seventh overall, after making a change of formation with head rower Federica Cesarini, Stefania Gobbi at two, Clara Guerra at three and bowman Stefania Buttignon . Finally, from today’s semi-finals, the doubles of Luca Rambaldi and Matteo Sartori, second, and the two without of Davide Comini and Giovanni Codato, third in his semi-final, arrive in tomorrow’s finals, while the singles of Gennaro Di Mauro will play in the final. Tomorrow the second and last day of the finals with Italy competing in six other Olympic and Paralympic boats.
The European Championship continues to be visible on the RAI networks: tomorrow at 8.00 with the replay of today’s matches on RAI Sport while afterwards, starting at 11.30, the live commentary of the final day of the finals will be broadcast from Szeged.
In the images (ph Canottaggio.org/Mimmo Perna): above, the men’s foursome; at the bottom, Giacomo Perini, the men’s lightweight doubles and the women’s lightweight doubles.
press release – FIC
