Olympic perspectives 2020

Kayaking and canoeing

Florin Orban, 13.11.2020, 13:45

A number of racing categories in rowing have provided noteworthy results for Romania, throughout the years. Rowing has enjoyed extensive coverage in our recent installments. Today we focus on Romanian Olympic perspectives in kayaking and canoeing.

At the Olympic games, Romanias delegation competing in kayaking and canoeing boasts a record of 10 gold medals, 10 silver, and 14 bronze medals. The mens canoe double crews walked home with the greatest number of wins; they walked away with 5 gold medals in the 1000m race. In Melbourne in 1956, the winners were Dumitru Alexe and Simion Ismailciuc. In Mexico in 1968, the proud winners Ivan Patzaichin and Sergey Covaliov. Patzaichin also won gold in mens canoe double in Moscow, in 1980, and in Los Angeles, in 1984, jointly with Toma Simionov. 2000 was the year when a Romanian Olympic crew last won a medal. We recall that back then Florin Popescu and Mitica Pricop won gold and silver medals.

At present, Romanias canoe double crew for the 1000m race is the only one to have secured their ticket for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. We recall that in the World Championships held in Stuttgart in 2019, Cătălin Chirilă and Victor Mihalachi came in 5th in the final. Chirila and Mihalachi did not secure their place for the boat that will compete in Japan and could be replaced according to the rowers condition ahead of next years Olympics. However, Cătălin Chirilă and Victor Mihalachi still rank as the main favorites to being selected for the upcoming Olympics.

Victor Mihalachi is, at present, the most experienced paddle rower in Romanias kayaking and canoeing team. Mihalachi hails from beyond Prut river. He was born on February 24, 1989, in the commune of Floritoaia Veche. He got his first remarkable results in international competitions when still a junior paddle rower in Republic of Moldova. In Brno in 2007, Mihalachi won the world title in the 500m race, jointly with Hariton Ivanov. In 2009 he was granted Romanian citizenship. Ever since, Mihalachi has won four world and four European titles. Victor Mihalachi is also the winner of a great number of medals in top-flight competitions, in mens 500m and 1000m canoe double races. He is signed up by Dinamo Bucharest sports club.

Cătălin Chirilă is signed up by Steaua Bucharest. He was born on May 11, 1988 in Tulcea, in the South-east. As a senior paddle rower, Chirila succeeded his first great performance at the European Olympic Games in Minsk, in 2019, when, jointly with Victor Mihalachi, he won gold in the canoe double 1000m race.

(Translation by Eugen Nasta)