Four years after winning a silver medal in the Men’s K1 200m event at the inaugural European Games in Baku in 2015, Petter Menning of Sweden was finally awarded gold today at a medal reallocation ceremony during the 2nd European Games Minsk 2019.
Menning was upgraded to European Games champion following the disqualification of Hungarian Miklos Dudas for an anti-doping rule violation in 2015.
Menning was presented with his Baku gold medal by EOC Executive Committee Member and 2000 Sydney Olympic rower Djordje Visacki. Joining Menning at the ceremony were Aleksejs Rumjancevs of Latvia and Marko Dragosavljevic of Serbia, who both received bronze medals after finishing with identical 35.842 second times in Baku.
“I very much appreciate that the EOC found a correct and deserved moment to present the medals to the athletes,” said Swedish coach Per-Erik “Peken” Rönnestrand. “This was so much more meaningful than simply receiving them in the mail.”
Baku bronze medallist Ed McKeever of Great Britain, meanwhile, will receive his reallocated silver medal from the British Olympic Association during a ceremony this Sunday in Great Britain.
“It’s always a great thing when justice is served,” said Visacki. “It took a while but at the end of the day the gold medal went to the right hands and everybody else moved up one spot. I believe all the athletes are really happy.”
McKeever is the only one of the four medallists to have retired since Baku 2015. Menning, Rumjancevs, and Dragosavljevic are all at Minsk 2019 competing in their second European Games.
