Disappointment at the home European Championship: The Germany eight surprisingly missed the hoped-for medal at the European Championships in Munich. The newly formed flagship of the German Rowing Association (DRV), which had six places one year after the Olympic silver medal in Tokyo, only finished fourth on the regatta course in Oberschleißheim on Saturday. The clearly superior British won gold ahead of the Netherlands and Italy. The DRV parade boat was without a European Championship medal for the second time in a row, and it also took fourth place in 2021.
“We didn’t start at the front and were therefore in a more defensive role,” said national coach Uwe Bender. “The team fought on the track to get back up, but that was lacking at the back.”
Before the season, there had been the biggest upheaval in years in the eights, only Torben Johannesen, Laurits Follert and Olaf Roggensack are still there from the Olympic team from Tokyo. Only five boats were registered for the competition north of Munich. In the lane distribution race on Thursday, batsman Johannesen’s crew took second place behind Great Britain. Johannesen is replacing the injured Mattes Schönherr at bat at the European Championships in Munich.
