Nadezhda Makarchenko and Alena Nozdreva have claimed gold medals in the 500m canoe doubles final, while Gleb Solodukha and Alexander Volchetsky have taken gold in the 200m sprint. At the finish, the Belarusian canoeists beat Germany’s Stefan Kiraj and Stefan Holz, who won silver, and Russia’s Alexander Kovalenko and Andrey Kraitor, who took third place. Marina Litvinchuk confirmed her European champion title in the 5,000m kayak singles.
Gleb Solodukha and Alexander Volchetsky
Margarita Makhneva, Olga Khudenko, Nadezhda Lepeshko and Marina Litvinchuk won silver in the 500m kayak quadruples. Canoeists Andrey and Alexander Bogdanovichs took silver in the 1,000m.
The Belarusian athletes also received five bronze medals. Vitaly Belko and Roman Petrushenko took third place in the 500m men’s kayak doubles, while Nadezhda Lepeshko and Marina Litvinchuk came third in the same women’s event. Also, Marina Litvinchuk and Margarita Makhneva took third place in the 200m. Artem Kozyr took third place in the 200m singles and Kamila Bobr came third in the 200m, but was later disqualified. In the final event of the programme, Belarusian Oleg Yurenya won bronze in the 5,000m.
Marina Litvinchuk before the event
Vladimir Shantarovich’s team won ten awards at the Moscow-held European Championship, including three gold, two silver and five bronze medals. The Belarusian national team is ranked 4th in the medal standings.
By Kirill Karin
