Fast water: Russian rowers successfully performed at the European Championships

At the European Rowing and Canoeing Championships in Montemor y Velho, Portugal, Russian athletes won four medals — two gold and two silver. The main hero of the tournament was Zakhar Petrov, who won gold in the double canoe with Ivan Shtyl and silver in the 1000 m canoe single. The Russian national team finished the competition in fifth place in the medal standings and is now preparing for the World Championships in Poznan, which will be held on August 26-30.

Two Petrov Awards

The main character of the last World Cup was the leader of our national team, Zakhar Petrov. The five-time world champion, participant of the 2024 Olympic Games competed in two types of programs and won medals in both. A native of Ryazan won a silver medal in the 1000 m canoe race. In the final, he lost to the titular Martin Fuchs from the Czech Republic by 0.385 seconds. The third place in this race was taken by the Greek Stefanos Dimopoulos, 1.890 seconds behind the leader.

At a distance of 500 meters, the crew of the two-man canoe Zakhar Petrov/Ivan Shtyl (silver medalist of the 2012 Games and 18-time world champion) won the final heat. Silver medalists — tandem Manuel Fontana/Diego Dominguez (Spain) — the Russian duo was ahead by a significant 0.5 seconds. Hungarians Daniel Fejes and Jonathan Hajdu won bronze (0.7).

Another gold medal was brought to the Russian team by Sergey Svinarev, who won the 200 m canoe singles competition. The result of the bronze medalist of the 2025 World Cup is 38.279 seconds. Spaniard Pablo Grana took second place, 0.075 seconds behind, and Belarusian Alexander Zubok rounded out the top three with a gap of 0.490 seconds.

Evgeny Arkhipov, President of the Russian Canoe Federation, noted that Sergey Svinarev's victory in the 200 m brought important rating points to the national team, which are taken into account when determining the composition for international competitions. According to him, athletes score points at different distances, and then the federation decides on their specialization.

"Silver in the 1000 m is a very serious achievement for Zakhar Petrov, he lost in wrestling only to Olympic champion Martin Fuchs," Arkhipov said on Match TV.

The head of the federation added that Petrov continues to make progress on his Olympic crown and is already laying the foundation for preparations for the Games in Los Angeles.

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Preparation for departure

On the final day of the competition, Alexey Korovashkov won the silver medal of the European Championship in the 500 m distance in the single canoe race. The six-time world champion and bronze medalist of the London 2012 Olympics covered the distance in 1 minute 46.142 seconds. Martin Fuchs (Czech Republic) became the winner again with a result of 1 minute 45.367 seconds. The Greek Stefanos Dimopoulos finished third (+1,600 seconds).

Ekaterina Shlyapnikova (single canoe) and Marina Gureeva stopped a step away from the medals./Ekaterina Shlyapnikova (deuces), as well as the four consisting of Korovashkova, Polina Belova, Matvey Arsenov, and Anastasia Luhneva.

The Hungarians won the team competition (4 gold, 5 silver, 5 bronze medals), the Ukrainians were second (4+0+0 ), the Germans were the third (3+2+2 ). The Russians took the fifth place. After a short rest, our team will start preparing for the World Cup, which will be held in late summer. According to Evgeny Arkhipov, Russians will have no problems leaving Poland.

According to Evgeny Arkhipov, the Russian Canoe Federation has begun preparations in advance for a trip to the World Championships in Poznan and is already working on issuing the necessary invitations to enter Poland. The head of the organization also noted that the international federation provides support to the Russian side and at the moment there are no obstacles to the participation of athletes in the world championship.

"I hope there won't be any problems," Arkhipov said on Match TV.

At last year's World Cup in Milan, our athletes won two gold and two bronze medals.