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Düsseldorf. At the German U17 Championships on the Fühlinger See in Cologne, the Germania Düsseldorf rowing club achieved two gold medals and one silver medal, one more place than the U-23 sector the day before, but was also represented in ten races. The U19 juniors also won one silver and one bronze in six starts.
After gold on the first day of the final in the controlled U23 foursome, Magdalena Hallay won gold, silver and bronze in the juniors the following day. She and Antonia Meyer were honored with gold in the steered U17 lightweight quadruple in rowing community (rgm.) with Neuss/Bonn. In the track distribution race, first place went to Rgm with a narrow lead of less than half a second. from NRW and gave the competition hope for first place. In the decisive final, however, the two German women and their team clearly prevailed against the other five boats. “The season was up and down. We tinkered with the cast for a relatively long time. So they had only been in the boat for three weeks. After the individual performances, the goal was to win gold,” explains RC trainer Denis Bennecke. Magdalena Hallay took silver in the controlled four of the U19 juniors in the NRW-Rgm. with Münster/Osnabrück/Essen behind the Rgm. Dresden/Magdeburg, who already rowed in first place in the course distribution race and left the second and third place behind in both races with about 2.5 and 5 seconds. Only the second (rgm. Heidelberg/Mainz/Friedrichshafen) and third (NRW) swapped places with each other, in the final in favor of the NRW team. Two more fours followed at a clear distance.
“After the results in Duisburg, it could have been third place,” said Denis Bennecke. There was bronze for the Düsseldorf helmswoman in the U19 eight. “That was in line with the performance, there was nothing more to do. The north-east is simply very strong compared to Team NRW.” Antonia Meyer was also fifth of 18 starters in the U17 lightweight one.
Phil Horsten and Ole Roppes won in Rgm. with Krefeld after the preliminary heat also the final of the controlled U17 four, here their victory was not endangered thanks to a 5.3 second lead. The other preliminary winners, the Rgm. from Leverkusen/Bonn had to hide behind the Rgm. from Berlin be satisfied with bronze. “It was a boring finale,” judged the RC trainer. This was not expected, even if all races of the season have been won so far. “The controlled foursome was almost four seconds faster than the uncontrolled foursome.” The team from Düsseldorf and Krefeld won in Rgm. with Leverkusen/Bonn, the third placed in the controlled four, the silver medal behind the Rgm. Munster/Minden/Essen. “They won every race, but the gap has never been as small as it is at the championships. Of course we wanted gold, but silver is also ok.”
Leonardo Ciccotti just missed out on medals in the U19 lightweight quadruple with fourth place, as far as the gaps to gold, silver and bronze are concerned, there was no chance for precious metal. “The ergometer performance is strong overall, but that didn’t get into the water. We hoped for more at the beginning of the season.” Carla Bültmann also finished fourth, together with Laetitia Hajek (RV Emscher Wanne-Eickel-Herten) in the U17 double scull. After winning the heats and third place in the semifinals, they were 1.5 seconds away from bronze. With the rowers from Cologne and Bonn in the steered U17 quad, the two were significantly further away from the podium after a difficult season with failures, among other things. “In the end they made the best of it.” In the U17 double sculls of the juniors, Titus Prante still won the B-final. “But we had planned a lot more.” Luqiao Zou and Joshua Dreher-Curkovic, on the other hand, surprised after a less strong season with tenth place in the quite large field of 14 controlled U17 quad sculls. “That’s actually always the strongest field. They showed the biggest increase in performance of the season,” praised Denis Bennecke.
Hendrik Schepers and Malte Altmeyer (Cologne) in the U17 lightweight double scull had the largest field of Germans with 26 boats. The two took 15th place. Hendrik Schepers, together with Jakob Eichmann and helmswoman Nike Pommeranz, was able to leave behind two of 15 boats in the steered lightweight double scull (in a round with Cologne/Essen). Sophie Wurow didn’t stand a chance in the U19 foursome or the U19 eighth and finished fifth out of five boats with her team.
All athletes have now earned a break, during which the coach has issued a strict rowing ban to clear their heads a little. The RCGD team then prepares itself for the autumn season, in which other combinations can also be launched that might not be formed in the main season.
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