Athlete of the Week on RRI – Canoeist Cătălin Chirilă

Cătălin Chirilă put in a solid performance at the Oklahoma World Paddle Sports Festival.

Florin Orban, 30.08.2022, 13:45

Last weekend the World Paddle Sports Festival took place in
Oklahoma City, the United States, one of the most popular events in this year’s
water sports calendar. The event was originally slated to take place in Moscow.
One of the competitions was the World Canoe Supercup, held over a distance of
350m, which is not a regular event in European, World or Olympic competitions.
The event brought together a number of world-class competitors, including Cătălin
Chirilă of Romania, the defending World and European champion in the 1000m
event. Cătălin Chirilă finished the semi-finals with the second time, second to
Wiktor Glazunow of Poland, and he finished third in the final. The gold medal
went to Serghei Tarnovschi of the Republic of Moldova, while Martin Fuksa won
silver. For the bronze medal won in Oklahoma, we have designated Cătălin
Chirilă Athlete of the Week on RRI.

Cătălin Chirilă was born May 11, 1998 in Tulcea, eastern
Romania. He is enrolled at Steaua Bucharest Army Sports Club. He grabbed his
first international victories in double-canoe events alongside Victor
Mihalachi. The two won gold at the 2019 European Games in Minsk, Belarus in the
1000m event, then bronze two years later at the European Championships in
Poznan, Poland, in the same event. At the Tokyo Olympics, Cătălin Chirilă and
Victor Mihalachi ranked 5th. This year, Cătălin Chirilă is competing
in singles events. He grabbed outstanding results at the World championships in
Račice, the Czech Republic and Poznan, Poland, then at the Halifax World Cup in
Canada, where he won gold in the 1000m event and silver in the 500m event. At
the European Championships in Munich, Germany, he won gold again in the 1000m
event, and bronze in the 500m race. His number one objective right now is
winning a medal at the Paris Olympics in 2024. (VP)