Athletes of the week

Rowers Ancuta Bodnar and Simona Radis

Steliu Lambru, 12.09.2023, 13:45

13 Romanian crews with 34 rowers proved their mettle in the World Rowing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. The Romanian delegation came in 4th according to the final medal rankings. The Netherlands, Great Britain and Italy came in 1st, 2nd and 3rd, respectively. The Romanian delegation walked away with five medals. Two were gold, won by Ancuța Bodnar and Simona Radiș in womens pair and the coxed eight crew, another medal was silver, won by the womens quadruple sculls crew la while two other medals were bronze, won by womens double sculls crew and lightweight womens pair crew, 11 Romanian crews have qualified to the Paris Olympics of 2024.

Defending Olympic champions Ancuţa Bodnar and Simona Radis won the first gold medal on Sunday, in the womens pair event. Bodnar and radis had no problem winning the race with more than a boats length, clocking 6 minutes, 46 seconds and 94 hundredths of a second. Second came in Donata Karaliene and Dovile Rimkute of Lithuania, while bronze was won by Kristina Wagner and Sophia Vitas of the USA, Thanks to their performance and for the manner in which they won the race, Ancuţa Bodnar and Simona Radis have been designated the Athletes of the week by Radio Romania International.

25-year-old Ancuța Bodnar is signed up by Dinamo Bucharest sports club, while 24-year-old Simona Radiș is signed up by Steaua Bucharest sports club. Ancuta and Simona have paired up in the womens pair boat since 2019. The same year, Bodnar and Radis won silver in the European Championships held in Switzerlands Lucerne. The two won another silver medal in September, also in 2019, in the World Championships held in Linz, Austria. Two European titles followed the first one in Polands Poznan, in 2020 and the second one in Varese, Italy, in 2021. In the Tokyo Olympics, also in 2021, Bodnar and Radis won the Romanian delegations only Olympic medal. The two won yet another European title in 2022, in Munich, Germany and a world title, in Racice, the Czech Republic, In May, 2023, Ancuţa Bodnar and Simona Radis became European champions in Bled, Slovenia.