All six Dutch boats that rowed their semi-finals on Thursday have advanced to the final battle at the World Rowing Championships in the Czech Republic.
According to the book, the women raced four without with the Groningen Gyas rower Marloes Oldenburg, Benthe Boonstra, Mijntje Drenth, Tinka Offereins away at the start. Midway through the race, the boat with the Gyas rower was a boat length leading the rest of the field led by Australia. The Romanians came closer in the final sprint, but the difference with the Dutch boat was too big to become really dangerous. The Netherlands won in 6:44.10. The Romanians finished second 0.3 seconds ahead of the Australians. In the other semi-final, the British won in a faster time (6:38.89). In particular, the British had a stronger second half in their race than the Dutch.
The women’s pair without Ymkje Clevering and Veronique Meester could not repel the Romanian attack in the last meters and finished second (7:12.75), 1.71 seconds behind the Romanians. ,,It wasn’t the perfect race yet, but we have the connection”, Clevering said. The battle for the medals will mainly be between the Netherlands, Romania and New Zealand, which won the other semifinal. New Zealand is the favorite for the title as the reigning Olympic and world championship.
The race of the women was not entirely perfect either with Ilse Kolkman van Aegir from Groningen, Nika Vos, Tessa Dullemans and Bente Paulis. The foursome got off to a quick start, together with the British, but the decline in speed was too great in the remainder of the race. Great Britain won by a big margin, Australia was just a little faster in the final sprint and was second with a nose length difference with the boat with the Aegir rower who finished third and is therefore also through to the final.
The men’s coxless, women’s double sculls and lightweight rower Martine Veldhuis also qualify for the final. Tomorrow are the other semifinals with, among others, Aegir skiffeur Melvin Twellaar.