In their own words; the European junior rowers tell all

Coming into the pontoon directly after crossing the finish line in the final, these rowers at the 2021 European Rowing Junior Championships described their experience.

To follow are the post-race quotes of the medallists in their raw form. Straight after they had finished racing.

 

Junior Women’s Coxed Four, JW4+ 

Caterina Monteggia, Italy, Gold: “We performed together, we grew as a team and we have won this together. It was a great group experience.”

Leonie Ristow, Germany, Silver: “This my first international regatta, my first time in Munich and it’s all been very exciting. An all-around positive experience.”

Szonja Balazs, Hungary, Bronze: “It was the first experience of such kind, but I never expected it to be so great! I am still trying to process everything, and all I can feel now is that I am super tired. If we could describe our team then I would say that we are four different individuals that work well as one team.”

 

Junior Men’s Coxed Four, JM4+ 

Andrea Pagliaro and Marco Vicino, Italy, Gold: “We did it at the (junior) world championships and we did it here again at the European Championships. We couldn’t be happier. The five of us confirmed our performance from the worlds and I would also like to thank our coach, who has really supported us over the last few weeks, our clubs and everyone who supported us this season.”

Ilia Beknazaro, Russia, Silver: “Some of us had the experience of the World Championships, however it was a great experience here and very special as honestly we tried out different combinations within the team and the four of us came together and trained hard only for about a week and a half. So you can imagine we had to deal with some issues along the way of the preparation and even here, but we are happy, the first successful heat gave us lots of confidence so that was one of the keys of winning the medal today. If we could describe our team then we would use the sentence, never give up.”

Jakub Vancura, Czech Republic, Bronze: “It was my first Iinternational regatta, it has been only three years since I started rowing. Our start was really good but our finish, not so much – but we’re super happy with the outcome.”

 

Junior Women’s Single Sculls, JW1x

Aurelia-Maxima Janzen, Switzerland, Gold: (Refused to talk to the media.)

Phaedra Van der Molen, Netherlands, Silver: “It was a tough race. Usually I quite like to win the races from the start, by getting out quick and then keeping the distance, this time the others pushed hard and I could not catch up.”

Laine Rumpe, Latvia, Bronze: “My first thought when I crossed the finish line and realized that I got the medal was – oh my god, I can’t believe I actually did that, and my family would be so happy and proud of me. This is my first podium and honestly before this I did not quite believe that I could do that but now I know that I can!”

 

Junior Men’s Single Sculls, JM1x

 Aaron Andries, Belgium, Gold: “I was already at the Junior Worlds and came 2^nd there, now I managed to beat the World Champion from Lithuania. There were heavy winds out there, I’m one of the lightest but with a great push at 1000m I managed to get a bit of distance between me and the competition and to hold it to the finish.”

Povilas Juskevicius, Lithuania, Silver: “Today I had to compete again against Aaron Andries – last time we met I was the first and he was the second, now it is the other way around, but I am quite happy with the result.”

Marco Prati, Italy, Bronze: “I would like to thank my coaches, family and my club in Ravenna. The race was a bit like hell and I don’t remember much of the second half, but I’m happy to be on the podium.”

 

Junior Women’s Pair, JW2-

Mihaela-Cosmina Dram, Romania, Gold: “We are super excited! And though this is not the first gold medal for me, it is very special for two reasons – one is that we worked really hard and it paid off massively, and second is that this is my last junior European championship and before entering senior competition it is always great to gain some confidence by winning a gold medal!”

Franziska Fischer, Germany, Silver: “This was our first international regatta and we are very happy. We stuck to our race plan, despite the tricky conditions and especially on the last 500 we pushed hard.”

Aslihan Akkay, Turkey, Bronze: “We came third at the European Junior Champs last year and are very happy we did it again this year. It was much more difficult this time and we had to push hard.”

 

Junior Men’s Pair, JM2-

Andrei Axintoi, Romania, Gold: “We worked really hard, we train constantly to get to where we are right now. It is not our first gold medal, but I must say that there is never a difference between gold at the Worlds or gold at the Europeans as every single win costs us a lot of effort and we are very excited to be here. Germany is a beautiful country and we are happy with how we were welcomed by the German people here. It is definitely a beautiful memory for us. If we could describe our pair with a hashtag then I would use #beautiful (laughs).”

Einar Bjorvik, Norway, Silver: “We rowed our race continuously and were prepared to respond to the competition in the final sprints. It was a great experience and race.”

Tomasz Lewicki, Poland, Bronze: “When we crossed the finish line we could not believe that we won a medal, we even asked the Romanian pair if we were really third. So obviously it was unbelievable for us to learn that were on podium. Last night I even sort of tattooed the phrase on my biceps – Poland is the best!”

 

Junior Women’s Four, JW4-

Elena-Maria Robitu, Romania, Gold: “It feels amazing to win the gold medal, it is a great day for our team in general we just brought a third gold medal to Romania, so we are very excited. The weather feels a bit challenging for us as it is very cold, but we managed to cope with it. We are strong!”

Emma Cuzzocrea, Italy, Silver: “It was a very hard race. We didn’t have a great race yesterday, but today we had the power to push up and get the silver. It was a beautiful race and we are so happy we stayed very close to Romania and we were able to show our quality. Unfortunately, no holidays for us, we will go straight into the preparation for winter training from here. It’s already October and we have to prepare for the next races.”

Eleni Charalampidou, Greece, Bronze: “I already rowed at the World Championships and we finished sixth. This race felt much better. We had a strong start and were able to keep the advantage till the end. “

 

Junior Men’s Four,JM4- 

Enver Erman, Turkey, Gold: “I am very proud to bring this medal back to my country and proud of my team. It was a strong race, we controlled it from the start, despite difficult conditions.”

Mikita Vitkouski, Bronze: “We dedicate this medal to our coach and to our moms, it feels amazing as we work so hard but that is the moment when you realize that it was worth it.”

 

 

Junior Women’s Quadruple Sculls, JW4X
Elena -Diana Suta, Romania, Gold: “It feels amazing to win the gold medal today because for three out of four of us it is the last junior championships so it’s very special to win the gold medal now. And as for Ana-Maria Matran, it is her first junior championships so you can imagine how she feels now. Plus, on top of everything this medal means a lot as it is a very hard boat to compete in, but we were good. If we could describe our team with one word, I would say, crazy!”

Alexa van der Schulenburg, Switzerland, Silver: “We only trained four times together in this combination, so we are surprised but happy how well we did at this competition. We knew from the start that this was going to be a good race.”

 

Junior Men’s Quadruple Sculls, JM4x  

 Adam Snajdr, Czech Republic, Gold: “I already participated at World Championships and this race was the same level. We had a strong start and were able to successfully make a distancing sprint at 750m, we were able to hold that advantage until the finish. “ 

Anton Bondar, Belarus, Silver: “Honestly we did not expect that we could win a medal here. But once we did great in the qualification round, we realised that we could actually compete and fight. Our coach encouraged us to believe in ourselves, and we came today quite prepared although it still feels unbelievable for us as it is our first medal.”

Viacheslav Kolosov, Russia, Bronze: “Almost all the way I thought that we were going to miss out as we were rowing in the 5-6 position, but closer to the finish line it felt like we got into a fifth gear and came home strong! We are very grateful to be here, it feels amazing and If I could describe my team in one word that would be family.”

 

Junior Women’s Eight, JW8+

Krystsina Ivanova, Belarus, Gold: “When we crossed the line, I thought, oh my god we did it! The reason for this excitement is because of the fact that we were rowing in the quad before and a week before the competition we had to go into the eight, so we had very little time to train together – you can imagine how it feels now that we have won, it is our first gold medal. We are very grateful to our coaches of course and our team member delegation. Olympic champion Ekaterina Karsten is a huge motivation and inspiration to all of us. We are blessed and dedicate this victory to our beautiful country.”

Anna Carolina Motlova, Czech Republic, Bronze: “We are so happy to finish third. It’s the first time for us and it’s my last Junior year. We’ve been to Munich before and always liked it. The atmosphere this weekend has been great.”

 

 Junior Men’s Double Sculls, JM2x

Daniel Galeza, Poland, Gold: “It feels absolutely amazing now to win the gold medal, in this discipline it is our first gold medal. Our first race here at these championships was a complete disaster we came in last, but then in the next races we were coming first and that helped us to build our confidence back and to be successful today.”

Roko Boskovic, Croatia, Silver: “It was a very hard race, but I am very happy with the outcome. Glad I am here as I broke a leg before the World Championships and I finally can compete again.”

 

Junior Women’s Double Sculls, JW2x

Evangelia Fragkou, Greece, Gold: “The race went according to plan and we were able to race side by side with the other crews, in fact a bit ahead and we were able to keep it this way until the end. The conditions were great, very similar to home.”

Ruby Cop, Slovenia, Silver: “It was amazing. We just had a blast, we enjoyed the race even though it was tough. We finally did it. We showed ourselves that we can do it, we showed that Slovenia is still able to be amongst the best even though we haven’t had a result in quite a few years. We are so happy about putting Slovenia back on the rowing map. We haven’t had the greatest results and the motivation went a bit down, but everyone will see now that there is still hope for us.”

Viktoryia Vasilyeva, Belarus, Bronze: “To get a medal is always great, but we realise that we could have done the race way better, therefore at the finish line we had very mixed feelings, as we know we can do better. Maybe the reason is that it has been only a month since we’ve become a team, but we know our weaknesses and know what needs to be improved and we will come back stronger next time.”

 

Junior Men’s Eight, JM8+

Alexandru-Gabriel Stetco, Romania, Gold: “We had a strong start to finish winning race. This crew has been rowing together since on month, but many of us were already at the World Championships. We like being in Munich, it is a great race course.”

Nikita Shabunin, Russia, Silver: “When you win the race at the finish line you usually are in a state of euphoria and don’t feel anything at all, but when you do not win then all the emotions come crashing down… It’s a bit hard to cope as we could have come first, we really could have, but we were struggling a bit along the way. However, we know what we should work on in the future. Now we have the full set of medals from the international events – bronze, gold and now silver, and it is a good thing. We will focus on improving further and will be competing way better next time.”

Wiering Valentin, Germany, Bronze: “We waited pretty long at the start, so I started to freeze, but especially in the second half of the race, we were able to execute the race plan as we hoped to. For me, it is very special to earn a medal in an international event in my home country.”