2026 European Rowing Championships: Grand’Italia Shines in Varese, Winning a Total of Nine Medals

A third and final day to remember for the Italian national rowing team, led by technical director Antonio Colamonici, at the 2026 European Championships, which concluded Sunday in Varese. The Azzurri wrapped up the home competition with four medals on the final day and a total haul of nine podium finishes, confirming the strength and depth of Italian rowing.

Two bronze medals came from Olympic events: the men’s eight (Luca Chiumento, Salvatore Monfrecola, Giovanni Abagnale, Matteo Sartori, Leonardo Pietra Caprina, Andrea Panizza, Nunzio Di Colandrea, and Giuseppe Vicino, coxed by Alessandra Faella) finished behind Romania and Germany, delivering a race marked by great courage and character.

The women’s eight (Clara Guerra, Sophie Souwer, Angelica Merlini, Giorgia Pelacchi, Silvia Terrazzi, Elisa Mondelli, Laura Meriano, and Alice Codato, coxed by Emanuele Capponi) won their fourth consecutive bronze medal at the European Championships, despite a last-minute substitution with Souwer replacing the injured Alice Gnatta.

In the Paralympic events, Giacomo Perini then secured a highly valuable silver medal in the PR1 single sculls, improving on his bronze from Plovdiv 2025 and challenging Britain’s Pritchard—the world and Olympic champion—right up to the very end. In the non-Olympic events, the mixed double sculls team of Niels Torre and Sophie Souwer took bronze after staging a spectacular comeback against the Netherlands and Ukraine.

The four medals won today add to two golds (men’s and women’s lightweight double sculls), another silver (mixed PR3 four), and two more bronzes (men’s and women’s coxless pairs), for a total of nine medals—a result that reaffirms Italy’s status among Europe’s rowing powerhouses.

Even those who didn’t win medals performed well: the mixed eight (Gaia Umbra Chiavini, Maria Lanciano, Aurora Spirito, Sara Borghi, Davide Comini, Gennaro Di Mauro, Davide Verità, Alessandro Gardino, coxswain Alessandra Faella) and the mixed PR3 double sculls (Marta Pozzi, Luca Conti) finished their respective races in fourth place, while Luca Borgonovo, in the lightweight single sculls, finished the final in fifth place.