Romania won four medals - two gold, one silver and one bronze - on Saturday, the opening day of finals at the European Rowing Championships in Varese, Italy.

Both gold medals came in the coxless pair.

In the women's event, Adriana Adam and Simona Radis took gold in 06:49.04, a new European record. The podium was completed by Czechia (06:56.11) and Italy (06:57.29).

In the men's race, Stefan Constantin Berariu and Florin Sorin Lehaci won in 06:15.62, ahead of Lithuania (06:18.29) and Italy (06:18.78).

The Romanian men's coxless four made of Cosmin Iulian Plesescu, Leontin Nutescu, Andrei Vatamaniuc and Ciprian Tudosa claimed silver in 05:44.13, finishing just behind Great Britain (05:43.38).

Romania (Mariana-Laura Dumitru, Emanuela-Ioana Ciotau, Andrada-Maria Morosanu, Iulia-Liliana Balauca) took bronze in the women's quadruple sculls, clocking 06:14.40, after leading three-quarters of the race. Switzerland (06:12.17) and Germany (06:12.85) finished first and second, respectively.

Three other Romanian crews finished just off the podium, two missing bronze by fractions of a second.

In the men's double sculls, Andrei Lungu and Marian Florian Enache placed fourth in 06:10.56. Serbia won in 06:04.45, followed by Spain (06:06.22) and Croatia (06:08.35).

In the women's coxless four, Romania (Manuela-Gabriela Lungu, Gabriela Tivodariu, Alexandra Ungureanu, Roxana Anghel) finished fourth in 06:25.52, just 0.26 seconds from bronze. Great Britain won (06:23.03), ahead of Germany (06:24.65) and Russia (06:25.26).

In the men's quadruple sculls, Romania (Mihaita Vasile Tiganescu, Florin Bogdan Horodisteanu, Andrei Sebastian Cornea, Ioan Prundeanu) also finished fourth in 05:40.64, only 0.24 seconds behind Croatia's bronze (05:40.40). Germany won (05:37.21), with Poland second (05:38.24).

Mihai Chiruta qualified for the men's single sculls final after winning his semifinal in 06:46.30. Bianca Ifteni, U23 world champion, finished fifth (07:32.76) in her women's semifinal and will race in Final B. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Mihai Tenea; EN - writing by: Simona Klodnischi)

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