At the Coastal Rowing premiere at the finals, it became emotional on Friday. Even though the former rowing Olympic champion Karl Schulze missed the title. Championship gold went to Dresden and Mainz. The sport will soon also celebrate the Olympic premiere.
Rower Karl Schulze has already won medals on the very big stage – twice he was Olympic champion, plus world champion and European champion. On Friday (01.08 2025) At the finals in Dresden, a German championship bronze media was added for the 37-year-old. A very special one: In the last race of his career, he made it onto the podium again.
Schulze: “One of the best races of my career”
Not in a double four or double two, where he celebrated his great success. But in the Coastal Rowing, a crisp new sport that celebrated its premiere at the finals. “It wasn’t all technically perfect, but otherwise it was one of the best races of my career”Schulze was happy after the competition on ZDF. “A dream set. I don’t know how many fans I know that I know. I stopped counting at some point. Mega, here at home.”
Racing, rowing, racing
Schulze muscle package had to give up in the semi -finals of the new sport, in which the athletes run from country to their boat, then rowed a short piece on the Elbe and finally had to run on land to a buzzer, still beaten against Berlin’s Moritz Wolff. In the duel in third place, however, he clearly won Paul Emil Scholz. In 1: 24.31 minutes he won the small final by 4.64 seconds.
“The end was like the beginning. I learned to row on the Elbe. The whole thing ends here, an all -round perfect career. I couldn’t have painted it better.” Schulze’s grandfather and grandmother were among the spectators at the competitions on Friday. Another special moment: “The emotions are slowly coming. I will enjoy the time after the career.”
Franz Werner at the Coastal Rowing
Coastal Rowing is getting Olympic – “So far it looks good”
In three years there will be three medals at the Coastal Rowing at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The Dresden Franz Werner and Mainz native Laura Brenker, who won the championship in Dresden on Friday, can hope for an Olympic start. “Olympics are the goal of every athlete, but it is still a long way”said Werner on ZDF. “So far it looks good. But stay calm, step by step.“Brenker describes the peculiarity of the new sport of the coastal rowing as follows: “It is a completely new challenge, a completely coordinated podium because you have to jump out in the boat and out of the boat.”
Laura Brenker at the Coastal Rowing
Women: gold and silver to Mainz
And in addition to Dresden, Mainz already seems to be a large Coastal-Rowing stronghold. In the women, after gold to Brenker with silver to Anne Kistenpfennig, second place went to the state capital of Rhineland-Palatinate. Julia Tertünte from Münster won bronze. Gold and bronze went to Dresden for the men, and silver brought Moritz Wolff in Berlin.
This is Coastal Rowing
Coastal Rowing is considered a whitewater variant of rowing and usually takes place at sea or large lakes. Specially constructed boats are used: wider, robust and flatter than the narrow racing boats in classic rowing on the shallow water. Competitions take place in Dresden in the “Beach Sprint”: the athletes sprint into the water over the sand, climb into the boats and complete a slalom course by two buoys. An 180-degree turn follows on the third buoy before going back to the beach in the direct course and from there again in the sprint to the finish line.