Romanian women's 8+1 rowing crew sets new European Championship record

Romania's rowing prowess was on full display at the European Championships in Varese, Italy, as the women's 8+1 crew smashed the existing European record. The Romanian boat, comprising Cristina Drugă, Geanina Dumitriţa Juncănariu, Ancuţa Bodnar, Maria Lehaci, Maria Magdalena Rusu, Amalia Chelaru, Adriana Adam, Simona Radiş, and coxswain Victoria Ştefania Petreanu, completed their preliminary race in an astonishing 5:49.79.

This remarkable time is more than 8 seconds faster than the previous European record of 5:58.13, set by the Netherlands in 2025 (note: likely a typo in source, should be a past year). Furthermore, their performance eclipses the current World Best Time of 5:52.99, also held by Romania from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. However, world records cannot be officially ratified at European Championships.

Beyond the record-breaking performance, nine Romanian crews secured spots in the A finals. The men's 8+1 crew also won their preliminary race with a time of 5:24.39. Victories in preliminary races also came from the women's pair (Adriana Adam and Simona Radiş), the men's pair (Ştefan Constantin Berariu and Florin Sorin Lehaci), and the women's four (Manuela-Gabriela Lungu, Gabriela Tivodariu, Alexandra Ungureanu, and Roxana Anghel). The men's four and men's quadruple sculls crews also qualified for the A finals, as did the women's quadruple sculls despite finishing third in their heat. In sculling events, the men's double sculls won their heat and placed second in their semifinal, while Bianca-Camelia Ifteni and Mihai Chiruţă advanced to the semifinals in their respective single scull events. Cristian Alexandru will compete in the B final for para rowing.