The Dutch rowers won four medals on the final day of the European Rowing Championships in Plovdiv on Saturday. There was no gold, so it remains at two European titles in the Bulgarian city.
With only two golds, the harvest this European Championship is meager compared to the Olympic Games last year in Paris. In the French capital, there were no less than four Dutch rowing golds.
The Holland Eight had to settle for silver on Sunday. The boat with Lennart van Lierop, Jorn Salverda, Eli Brouwer, Olav Molenaar, Wibout Rustenburg, Guillaume Krommenhoek, Jan van der Bij, Mick Makker and coxswain Jonna de Vries was in the lead for a long time, but ultimately fell 0.24 seconds short of gold. Great Britain was faster.
Molenaar, Van der Bij and Makker were also there during the Games in the Holland Eight. In Paris, the Netherlands also finished second behind the British.
The women’s eight also took the silver medal, behind Great Britain. Linn van Aanholt, Nika Vos, Claire de Kok, Ilse Kolkman, Hermijntje Drenth, Vera Sneijders, Ymkje Clevering, Tinka Offereins and coxswain Dieuwke Fetter started strongly, but saw Great Britain come back well. Italy finished third, ahead of disappointing Romania.
For Offereins, Clevering, Vos and Van Aanholt it was the second medal of the weekend. The rowers won gold in the four without on Saturday. Tessa Dullemans and Roos de Jong won gold with the women’s double two on Saturday.
Silver for men’s quad sculls
The men of the quad sculls won the silver medal on Sunday. With Mats van Sabben, Lucas Keijzer, Simon van Dorp and Gert-Jan van Doorn there were four different rowers in the boat than during the Games, where the Netherlands took gold. The Dutch caught up with the strongly started Poland in Plovdiv, but had to let Great Britain pass.
The rowers of the quad sculls won bronze. Lisa Bruijnincx, Lisanne van der Lelij, Margot Leeuwenburgh and Willemijn Mulder finished behind the winning Great Britain and number two Germany. In a different composition, the Netherlands won silver at the Olympic Games last year.
Benthe Boonstra had to settle for sixth place in the skiff. The Olympic champion of Paris in the women’s four replaced the absent Karolien Florijn, who won gold during the last Games. The British Lauren Henry took the European title in Bulgaria.