Minsk 2019. Sprint canoeist Aleh Yurenia claims bronze at 2nd European Games!

On June 26, the medal heats in canoe sprint have kicked off at 2nd European Games. Today the Belarusian athletes are to compete in 6 final rounds. The results of the first medal heat brought bronze medal to our team’s total.

Aleh finished third in the Men’s K1 1000m with a result 3.32,291. Gold went to the Hungarian athlete Balint Kopasz (3.30,936)and Portugal’s Fernando Pimenta earned a bronze medal (3.31,048).

Aleh Yurenia: «These are the good feelings since I sprint in Minsk and the medal is very important to me. Not that much for me as for the fans, my friends and family. My parents, wife and daughter are here to support me. I felt calm at the start but the sprint turned out to be a difficult one. The European Games is just a European Championship for sprint canoeists and no more. You experience quite different emotions with the fact that you’re living at the Athletes Village, and you get to see all these victories and a range of emotions. So, this makes you motivated to win. It is a great responsibility to sprint on the home ground but you get to experience even greater emotions when claiming medals here».

Congratulations to the athlete and the Belarusian canoe team on winning the first medal!

Press Service of the NOC Belarus

Photos: Sergei Neverkevich