Article by Roxana Fleşeru – published on Saturday, June 21, 2025 20:32 / Updated on Saturday, June 21, 2025 20:49
Cătălin Chirilă had an excellent day, as he describes, at the European Championships in Racice. The Romanian won the gold medal in the canoe sample 1 – 1,000 meters, after an incredible fight with Martin Fuksa, the Olympic and World Sample Champion.
The Romanian took over the leadership of the race after the first intermediate point, then distanced from Fuksa and a boat, but the one who trains daily on the waters of Labe Arena has returned incredibly is the last 250 meters. Chirilă did not give up and passed the first finish line. The departure between the Romanian and the Czech was done at the photophin. When he climbed the podium, a few minutes later, Cătălin went through all the states, from joy to almost tears during the Romanian anthem.
Martin Fuksa, Cătălin Chirilă and Serghei Tarnovschi on the podium at Racice Photo Barbora Reichová
Cătălin Chirilă: “I still have no enough words to describe the cumulation of lived emotions”
A few hours later, Cătălin Chirilă also expressed his thoughts on social networks. “A Excellent day! The third consecutive title. I still have no enough words to describe the cumulation of emotions experienced today. I fired until exhausted, I enjoyed, I cried and I downloaded. Thank you all for the positive thoughts! We see you again in a new race: 500m ”, he transmitted.
This gold medal comes after the heavy episode in Paris, where he did not catch the final, although he was listed among the favorites, after changes in his team and after a lot of work.
For Cătălin Chirilă is the third consecutive European title, he conquered gold at Munich 2022, Szeged 2024 and Racic 2025. In 2023, the 1,000 m test was not included in the European Games program, considered as a continental competition in that year, because the Lake in Poland, where they did not have the longings, evidence.
The Romanian canoist will compete on Sunday, from 10:06 on a distance of 500 m, a test in which it is a world champion. In 2024, in Szeged, he held the fourth position in this race.
