Germany's men's quadruple sculls won gold at the European Rowing Championships in Varese on Saturday — the country's first European title in that boat class in 13 years. Marc Weber, Felix Heinrich, Jonas Gelsen and Ole Hohensee controlled the race from the start and finished ahead of Poland and Croatia.
"We said we'd go flat out from the start and wouldn't be the slowest over the last 1,000 metres. And essentially that worked out," said stroke Weber after the win, calling it one of the finest races of his career.
Germany's first gold of the day had already been won: Jasmina Bier and Paul Umbach took the PR2 para mixed double sculls narrowly ahead of Ukraine, defending the title they won last year.
Two silvers and a bronze
The newly assembled women's coxless four of Hannah Reif, Paula Hartmann, Annabelle Bachmann and Pia Greiten finished second behind Great Britain. Shortly afterwards the women's quadruple sculls added another silver: Maren Völz of Ruderclub Potsdam, Juliane Faralisch, Johanna Debus and Frauke Hundeling came in 0.68 seconds behind the winning Swiss crew — in rowing terms, not much more than a short length.
A fifth medal came from the men's coxless four. René Schmela of Berliner Ruder-Club, Jasper Angl, Benedict Eggeling and Mark Hinrichs took bronze behind Great Britain and Romania.
What stands out is the spread: medals in five different boat classes on a single day of finals, para rowing among them, suggest a federation that does not depend on one or two exceptional athletes.
One of those athletes posted the fastest time of the day regardless. Olympic champion Oliver Zeidler set a championship best time in the single sculls, underlining his ambitions for the title. His final comes on Sunday, as does that of the German eight, which includes Berlin's Olaf Roggensack. Germany's tally from Varese could yet improve considerably.