World Rowing Championships U23: Bronze medal

The World Rowing U23 Championships took place in Račice, Czech Republic (7-11 July 2021)

On thursday our tournament in the lightweight men's double scull began with the heats, where we competed against: the Netherlands, Portugal and the United States. We could secure our first place, to get in the semi-finals, but not the way we hoped to achieve our spot. We felt from the beginning that it would not be easy to defend our roles as topfavorites.

Our semi-final took place on saturday, we were third en were able to take the last qualifying spot for the A-final. The race was not what we initially had in mind, mentally it was one of the toughest moments I have ever had in my career. The trust and motivation were gone for a moment.

After a few, less succesfull, races during these championships, we got back up and gave it our all during the last race. We have given everything we had and took at least the bronze medal. We had to let go Germany and France who took respectively the gold and silver medals.

The end result: GER - FRA - BEL - IRL - POL - SUI

Click here for the full results