Sport rowing eights
The German flagship is facing the greatest possible disgrace
As of: 4:30 p.m. | Reading time: 3 minutes
The Germany eight has to go into the repechage at the World Championships in Belgrade
Source: dpa/Roland Weihrauch
The glorious times of the Germany eight seem to be over for the time being. The third place in the World Cup preliminary even raises doubts about the Olympic qualification. Is there a disaster like the last 23 years ago? There are many indications.
The medal ranks are a long way off, the Olympic qualification in danger – for the Germany eight, the World Rowing Championships in Belgrade did not start very encouragingly. In the run-up to the title fights, the DRV parade boat had to be content with third place behind Australia and the USA. The crew around batsman Mattes Schönherr missed the direct entry into the final and has to start the repechage on Friday. Above all, the large gap to the leading teams raises doubts as to whether at least the ticket for Paris 2024 can be booked. However, coach Sabine Tschäge remained optimistic: “We don’t need to stick our heads in the sand. The repechage will be a tough number. But we have a chance – and we will use it.”
Only the first five World Championship teams are sure to be in the fight for Olympic medals next year. But in the current form, the Germans face a tricky post-qualification in the coming year. Although they fought their way up from fourth to third place after the 500-meter mark on Tuesday, they were unable to take part in the fight for the two top places required to go straight into the final. “We don’t have enough speed in the middle. The others drive away from us too easily. So we didn’t have a chance to intervene,” complained helmsman Jonas Wiesen.
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At the end of a hitherto unsuccessful and changeable season, the gap to the top of the world doesn’t seem to have narrowed. The advantage of the victorious Australians was more than eight seconds, the Americans were still almost six seconds faster. The significantly better times of three boats in the second heat also gave food for thought. However, trainer Tschäge seemed a little unsettled and referred to the different wind conditions in the two races.
Not only the eight disappointed
Failure to qualify for the Olympics in the most popular boat class would be counterproductive for rowing in the fight for more attention. A similar mishap had last occurred before the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney, when the crew had failed both at the World Cup a year earlier in Canada and at the post-qualification in Lucerne. Helmsman Wiesen is in good spirits that the current crew will be spared similar experiences: “We will draw our conclusions and organize the race better on Friday,” he said, hoping for one of the first two places.
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Not everything went according to plan in other DRV boats on the third day of the World Championships on the Ada Ciganlija either. With the coxless four, the coxless two and the lightweight women’s double scull, three teams missed out on the semi-finals in the repechage. In contrast, the men’s quadruple scull was the winner and the four without a helmswoman came second in the race for the Paris tickets. The women’s eight, consisting of a U23 team, has to go into the repechage after fourth place in the heat.
