The Romanian rower Catalin Chirila qualified on Thursday in the two finals of the 500 and 1,000 meter single canoe events at the European Canoe Sprint Championships in Szeged (Hungary).

The rower won the first series at 1,000 meters, with a time of 3 min 53 sec 339/1000, the best of the event.

At 500 meters, Chirila finished third in the second heats, with a time of 1 min 49 sec 216/1000, ahead of Moldovan Serghei Tarnovschi (1:48.002) and German Conrad Scheibner (1:48.579).

The finals of the two tests will take place on Saturday, June 15. Chirila will also start in the 5,000 meters event, scheduled for Sunday.

In the men’s canoe-2, Ilie Sprincean and Oleg Nuta qualified for the semifinals of the 200 m, 500 m and 1,000 m events, in which they will race on Friday.

The two stellar athletes finished fourth in the second heat at 1,000 meters (3:40.273), finished sixth in the first heat at 200 meters (37.664) and fourth in the first heat at 500 meters (1:41.093).

At the 2023 European Games in Poland, Chirila won the silver medal in the single 500 m canoe event.

AGERPRES