Four medals and EUC qualification for KIT rowers
The rowing novices, some of whom have only been rowing for three months, kicked off the DHM in the 'Novice' races over 500m in gig double fours. The women's team consisting of Elodie Nicolas, Stephanie Lackner, Maria-Sol Gomez, Lena Salfenmoser and coxswain Christina Kunert qualified for the B final. There the competition was then too strong to race in front and the women could be happy about the sixth place and thus the 12th place of the overall ranking. For the men's team consisting of Robert Wilbrandt, Albert König, Andres Prieto, Sebastian Clemens and helmsman Lukas Rossel it was unfortunately already over in the hope run.
The open championship races over 1000m were opened by Moritz Schineis and Adrian Elter in the double without, here the two lightweight rowers were able to secure sixth place in a seven-boat final. Afterwards, the two competed together with Christoph Umminger and Markus Schudok in the men's double four, here the final entry was narrowly missed. The women in the double four did better, the team of Linda Kromer, Maren Haid, Linda Möhlendick and Lisa Merz made it into the A-final and achieved a respectable fifth place behind the winners from Mainz.
The men's eight traditionally forms the conclusion of the first regatta day, here the team of Christoph Reichelt, Lennart Puck, Lenz Kiefer, Andreas von Borstel, Lars von Deyn, Matthias Reichelt, Simon Gessler, Klaus Brumann and coxswain Madeleine Merdes wanted to replace the reigning champion from Aachen. After a good start of the Karlsruhe boat, the boats from Aachen and Hanover were able to pull away quickly, the Aacheners decided this duel for themselves and could win the title for the fifth time in a row. Behind the two boats, the boats from Karlsruhe and Dresden fought for third place. In the final sprint, the Karlsruhe team had to admit defeat and unfortunately could only achieve fourth place and just missed the podium.
The second day of the regatta started again with races of the 'Novice' category, mixed boats were entered from the boats of the previous day, but here both Karlsruhe boats did not manage to enter the final.
In the open championship races better results could be achieved on this day. The first podium finishes were achieved by Christina Kunert, Christoph Umminger, Andreas von Borstel and Lisa Merz in the mixed double four. After a strong race, the team managed to secure the runner-up title behind the team from Bremen.
In the men's four without coxswain, three boats from Karlsruhe tried to qualify for the final. Moritz Schineis and Adrian Elter, in a team with Lucas Gropengießer and Jan Scholl from Heidelberg, won their preliminary heat. However, both boats survived this and thus the final was occupied by three boats from Karlsruhe. In the final, the team of Christoph Reichelt, Lennart Puck, Markus Schudok and Lenz Kiefer could not keep up with the pace of the other boats and thus could not intervene in the medal ceremony and reached sixth place. The other two boats competed hard for the title, which Moritz Schineis and Adrian Elter secured with their racing team in a strong final sprint. Simon Gessler, Klaus Brumann, Lars von Deyn and Matthias Reichelt were happy about the silver medal and the qualification for the European University Championships (EUC). The team now faces a rigorous training program to compete for medals in races over 2000m at the EUC in early September.
The championships will be concluded once again by the men's eight, this time over the sprint distance of 500m. After not being able to win a medal the day before, the Karlsruhe team wanted to get on the podium in this race. A total of seven boats competed over the distance. The boats from Aachen and Hanover left the field behind early on, as they had done on the previous day, and the cathedral city team managed to defend its title in this race as well. Behind them a hard fight for third place broke out, this time the rowers from Karlsruhe were able to secure this place, so that a podium finish was achieved after all.
The season of the Karlsruhe rowers goes into the final spurt after the DHM, in July the state championships in Breisach are on the agenda for the Karlsruhe rowers.