Skiers Alice Prokešová and Kristýna Neuhortová in the lightweight category won bronze medals at the European Rowing Championships in Szeged. While Neuhortová defended her result from last year’s championship on Lake Bled in the non-Olympic discipline, Prokešová’s success is unexpected. The former athlete has been rowing since 2019.
The 24-year-old Prokešová previously competed in a double skiff with Markéta Nedělova or Michala Pospíšilová, but this year she is competing in a skiff. In Szeged, she advanced to the final directly from the opening heat and performed excellently on Sunday.
Trainer Tomáš Kacovský’s daughter was still sixth in the middle of the track, but then moved forward. In the end, she managed to overtake the Romanian Andrada Maria Morosanu, who ran out of strength, and claimed the biggest success of her rowing career. The Serbian Jovana Arsičová won.
Neuhortová, who is also being trained by Kacovský, was certain to participate in the medal fights due to the low number of registered rowers. The member of Olymp Prague was in fifth place after the start, quickly moved to fourth, which she subsequently held for more than a kilometer. In the last intermediate time, 500 meters before the finish line, she managed to overtake the Frenchwoman Aurelie Morizotová and kept the bronze position until the finish line.
The victory was enjoyed by Alena Furmanová from Belarus, who started at the event as a so-called independent individual athlete and won the third European title in her career. Margaret Cremenová from Ireland finished second.
In Hungary, Pavlína Flamíková and Radka Novotníková also achieved the best result in their career in pairs without a coxswain. The crew, also led by Kacovský, advanced to the finals for the first time at a major event and eventually finished fourth.
In the end, Flamíková and Novotníková fought for the bronze medal, falling three tenths of a second behind the third Croatians Ivana and Josipá Jurkovičová. The Czech crew’s highest performance at the European Championship so far was eighth place from the previous two championships. The third title in a row was won by Ioana Vrinceanu and Roxana Anghel from Romania.
Anna Šantrůčková and Lenka Lukšová also finished fourth in the double skiff. The newly composed crew, which will fight in mid-May in Lucerne in an additional qualification for participation in the Olympic Games in Paris, was eight seconds away from a medal. Norwegians Thea Helsethová and Inger Seimová Kavlieová won.
