Eight rowers from Karlsruhe at EUC 2015

After a four-year break, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology was able to send eight athletes to the European University Championships (EUC) this year. 600 participants from 18 nations came to Hanover to compete for the titles in the 21 boat classes.

The General German University Sports Association (adh) was represented by the best athletes from 18 German universities.

In June, the men's coxless four and the women's double four from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology qualified for the European University Rowing Championships. After two months of intensive training, the athletes and their coaches Ralf Thanhäuser and Christoph Karst traveled to Hanover for the "German home game".

The men's four without was able to look forward to a field of ten boats. Great Britain (Newcastle and Oxford Brookes University), Switzerland (Lausanne and Zurich), Poland (University of Economy Bydgoszcz and Kazimierz University Bydgoszcz), the Netherlands (Groningen), Croatia (Split) and a boat from Leibniz Universität Hannover. After a clear victory for Newcastle and 2nd place for Oxford Brookes, the Karlsruhe quad with Matthias Reichelt, Lars von Deyn, Klaus Brümann and Simon Gessler had to prepare for an exciting hopeful race on Friday with 4th place .

The women's double four with Lisa Merz, Linda Möhlendick, Christina Kunert and Linda Kromer fared similarly. The eight opposing boats from Poland (Poznan University of Technology), Great Britain (Durham University and Reading University), France (National Institute of Applied Sciences Lyon), Switzerland (Lausanne and Zurich) and also a boat from Leibniz Universität Hannover meant a strong field for the four women from Karlsruhe. The Polish and Hanoverian boats qualified for the A-finals with the first two places in the preliminary heat.

The grand opening ceremony took place on Thursday evening, at which all 80 universities from the 18 European nations were presented once again.

On Friday, both Karlsruhe boats had to give their all once again, with the men's four making it very exciting for the spectators. They were in 6th place until the halfway point and tried to catch up with their opponents. Unfortunately, they crossed the finish line in fifth place and missed out on a place in the A final.

At lunchtime, the women were allowed to start their hope heat, as the Durham women were able to quickly gain a lead, the KIT team had to fight for 2nd place, unfortunately they did not manage to overtake the women from Lausanne in the final sprint and had to settle for 3rd place and participation in the B final.

Friday afternoon was a longer break, during which the participants of the EUC were given the opportunity to take part in various guided tours. The foursome, accompanied by the two coaches, were allowed to visit the stadium of Hannover 96 and the women had a look at the town hall with the world's only inclined elevator. In the evening, a representative of each boat was invited to a welcome by the mayor in the town hall of Hannover. Lisa Merz and Simon Gessler represented the two Karlsruhe boats at a subsequent dinner.

The final day once again showed Hanover at its best, with a light crosswind pushing the Karlsruhe men's four into the B final in the morning. After being in 3rd place at the halfway point, the four men fought their way up to 2nd place, 0.27sec behind first place. A really good race with which the four was able to show once again that it belongs.

The double four had its B final in the afternoon and unfortunately did not manage to win the B final after the strong hope heat. Due to a "cancer" of the stroke woman shortly before the 1000m mark, the boat had to stop and realign itself. The four women from Karlsruhe had to accept defeat, 23 seconds behind the 2nd boat.

After three days of exciting races, the German delegation is delighted to have won 8 gold, 2 silver and 6 bronze medals and has also won the overall ranking with this outstanding performance.

The two teams would like to thank their coaches Ralf Thanhäuser and Christoph Karst for their great support, the Karlsruhe rowing club Wiking for providing the boat material, their sponsor THOST Projektmanagement and all the friends and family who supported and cheered them on in such large numbers. It was a great event for the team and both athletes and coaches were able to enjoy their well-deserved "summer break".