Five gold medals on Olympic numbers at the world rowing championships: it is unprecedented for the Netherlands. And that with a significant northern input.
With a handful of world titles, the Netherlands was the most successful rower in Belgrade a year before the Olympic Games. Aegir rower Melvin Twellaar in the double sculls, the Gyas women Ymkje Clvering in the sculls and Marloes Oldenburg in the scull had an important contribution to three of the five world titles.
Marloes Oldenburg worked conscientiously on her recovery after a cycling accident last year in which she broke her neck. She rowed in the coxless again from the first competition this season; and that with drive and a lot of discipline.
Dissatisfied
This was seen earlier, for example, at this year’s European Championships, where she was dissatisfied with the execution of the middle part of the race, which resulted in third place.
The focus on this part of the race during training in the following months paid off during the final at the World Championships in Belgrade. Halfway through the race, the Dutch team accelerated well this time and took the lead from the British.
“We went through the British and that gave us an extra good feeling,” said Oldenburg after the golden race of the coxless. “It wasn’t until I reached the last three that I had a wonderful feeling; then I knew we had the world title.”
Dream
A dream come true, after the bicycle accident almost a year ago? “No, I don’t dream about that. Of course we have discussed it in the team that it is possible.”
Following this World Cup, Oldenburg will not be taking the mountain bike along on holiday again. “I do cycle, but I have stored the mountain bike far away for the time being. We just did it, we are world champions,” the Gyas rower realized after crossing the finish line.
Final sprint
Ymkje Clevering and Veronique Meester had never won against the Australian duo Morrison/McIntyre. Clevering and Meester did not want it to come down to a final sprint in the World Cup final. They started quickly and extended their lead to more than a boat length ahead of Australia, who led the rest of the field. The duo started the final sprint with still more than a boat length lead. “The last 500 meters were not pleasant, but we sailed in a controlled manner. We didn’t want to make it more exciting than necessary,” Clevering responded afterwards. “We felt a lot of power during the race. Everything matched what we had trained for all year. It was a crazy feeling when we crossed the finish line.”
At the Games in Tokyo, the French were surprisingly 0.2 seconds faster than Groningen Melvin Twellaar and Stef Broenink in the double scull. In Belgrade, the two Dutchmen were the favorites for the world title, with the Croatian brothers Sinkovic, the multiple world champions and Olympic champions, as the main competitor.
Idols defeated
Early in the race, Twellaar and Broenink left no doubt about what their plan was. Halfway through they were already more than a boat length ahead and continued to widen this difference. “I am not only happy with the world title, but also with the fact that I won against the Sinkovic brothers. They were my idols and now I was next to them and defeated them,” said Twellaar excitedly. Martin Sinkovic was full of praise for the Dutch. “Hats off to Melvin and Stef. Their race was impressive. We will do everything we can to beat them next year.”
The Netherlands also won world titles in the women’s single scull, in which Karoline Florijn extended her title, and the men’s double sculls. Silver went to the men’s eight and skiffer Simon van Dorp. The same color also had the medal for the Dutch women’s double sculls. Among the para-rowers, Corné de Koning won the world title in the single scull.