Latvian-Irish rower Sanita Puspure wins gold at European championships

A great day for Irish sportswomen.

Sanita Puspure has won gold at the European Rowing Championships. The Latvian-Irish rower secured the medal in the single sculls event today at this year's championships in Lucerne, Switzerland. She also set a new European record coming in a time of 7:23.18. Puspure qualified for the 'A' final of the single sculls yesterday following an impressive performance in the semi-finals finishing second behind 2012 Olympic champion, Mirka Knapkova. Puspure is the reigning world champion in the women's single scull. She won her title last year at the 2018 World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The 37-year-old began her rowing career in 2003 in her native Latvia, eventually moving to Ireland with her husband in 2006. Puspure began competing for Ireland in 2010 and became an Irish citizen soon afterwards. She was selected as the sole rowing competitor for Ireland in the 2012 Olympics, placing fifth. She won her first world title last year. 20x20 is an ambitious two-year long initiative to better promote and champion women in sport. With the tagline of "if she can't see it, she can't be it," the 20x20 movement has three targets to reach by 2020:

• 20 percent more media coverage of women in sport
• 20 percent more female participation
• 20 percent more attendance at women’s competitions and events

And at Maximum Media, we're proud that Her and SportsJOE is backing the 20x20 movement as official digital media partners