Oliver Zeidler wins fourth world rowing title

Oliver Zeidler continued his impressive run of success and won his fourth world title in the men's single sculls at the World Championships in Amsterdam. The Olympic champion in Paris dominated the final on the Bosbaan and confidently crossed the finish line in 6:35.22 minutes ahead of the Belarusian Yauheni Zalaty (+3.11 seconds), who was starting under a neutral flag, and the Norwegian Jonas Slettemark Juel (+8.81 seconds).

The 30-year-old remains undefeated this season and is celebrating gold again at a World Cup after 2019, 2022 and 2023. Last year he won silver at the World Championships in Shanghai despite significantly reduced training efforts due to his studies. The Greek defending champion Stefanos Ntouskos missed the final.

Almost four weeks ago, Zeidler secured his fourth European Championship title in a record time of 6:36.39 minutes in Varese, Italy. In the future, the German also wants to attack the world best time of 6:30.74 minutes over the 2000 meters, which was set by New Zealander Robbie Manson in 2017.

The Germany men's eight, however, narrowly missed out on their first World Cup medal since 2019. The former flagship of the German Rowing Association (DRV) landed in 4th place. The large boat led by batsman Frederik Breuer was in the top group for the first 500 meters, but had to drop off as the race progressed.

In a thrilling photo finish and with great cheers, gold went to hosts and defending champions Netherlands in a world-best time of 5:17.57 minutes, ahead of Olympic champions Great Britain and Australia. The Dutch thus beat the best time set by the German eight in 2017. After 2,000 meters in 5:20.71 minutes, the German boat was only 2.5 seconds behind the medal places.

The men's crew rowed three races in less than 24 hours. Because of the large starting field, semi-finals were held on Sunday morning for the first time since 2011. On Saturday, the German eight, which had two replacement rowers due to illness, qualified in the preliminary round, which was held as an individual time trial due to unfair wind conditions. In the semi-finals, third place brought us a ticket to the final.

Almost four weeks ago, the German eight ensured a sense of achievement with silver at the European Championships in Varese, Italy. At the World Cup in Shanghai last year, the crew disappointingly missed the A final. The German women's eight, which surprisingly came fourth at the World Cup last year, had to be content with the B final this time with several double starters and finished the World Cup in ninth place.