The 1953 European Rowing Championships were rowing championships held on

Lake Bagsværd Lake Bagsværd is a lake in northeastern Zealand, Denmark. After Furesø, it is the second largest lake in the Mølleå system. The lake is an appendix to the Mølleåen via Furå further on to Lyngby Lake. The water quality in the lake is not ...

near the Danish capital

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

. Men competed in all seven Olympic boat classes (M1x, M2x, M2-, M2+, M4-, M4+, M8+). The regatta was also the third test event for international women's rowing organised by the

International Rowing Federation World Rowing, also known as the World Rowing Federation (former abbreviation FISA; french: Fédération internationale des sociétés d'aviron), is the international governing body for rowing. Its current president is Jean-Christophe Rolland who ...

(FISA), with nine countries competing in four boat classes (W1x, W2x, W4+, W8+) over the shorter race distance of 1,000 m (men competed over 2,000 m). The purpose of the test event was to see whether women's rowing should formally become part of the FISA-organised

European Rowing Championships The European Rowing Championships is an international Rowing regatta organised by FISA (the International Rowing Federation) for European rowing nations, plus Israel which, though not a member of the European federation is treated as a Europea ...

Women's test event

The women’s test event was the third regatta organised to check whether international women's rowing was viable. Four countries had competed at the previous test events ( Mâcon in 1951 and

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

in 1952): France, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Denmark. In 1953, the four initial countries were joined by Norway, Finland, Austria, West Germany and Poland. The same four boat classes (W1x, W2x, W4+, W8+) as in the two previous years were contested. There were only three boats entered for the eight event and a single race decided the medals: the Netherlands won gold, silver went to Great Britain, and the Danish crew was awarded bronze. As part of the 1953 European Championships, FISA held a congress in Copenhagen. It was decided for women's rowing to become an official part of the European Championships, with the first full event to be held as part of the 1954 European Rowing Championships in Amsterdam. In addition, a fifth boat class was added to the regatta from 1954: coxed quad scull.

Medal summary – men's events

References

{{European Rowing Championships European Rowing Championships

International sports competitions in Copenhagen

Rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...