Under-23 Men’s Double Sculls (BM2x) – Final

Both the Netherlands and Norway recorded fast times in the semifinals and they faced each other again today. This time to go after the World Championship title.  It was Germany’s Max Appel and Philipp Syring, however, that got away the quickest. The Germans are the reigning under-23 World Champions, but this crew of Appel and Syring is new for 2016. Germany then moved away to a full boat length lead. The Netherlands then pushed back with Norway and Canada both very much on the pace.

Appel and Syring did a push coming through to the final sprint and moved away from the Dutch crew of Amos Keijser and Abe Wiersma. The finish line was in sight and the Dutch and the Netherlands were neck-and-neck. Norway’s Martin Helseth and Erik Solbakken were flying. They had gotten ahead of the Netherlands and were closing on Germany. Appel and Syring held them off. Germany had retained the World Champion title.

Results: GER, NOR, NED, RSA, CAN, BEL

Max Appel (b), Gold, Germany
“The first 500, we went out really fast and by the 500 mark we felt in control. But by 1500 in it got really tough and we just held on tight. We left it all on the course.”

Martin Helseth (b), Silver, Norway
“It was such a good race for us, but the sprint was tough. We just stuck to our plan and went from there. We’ve rowed together in the quad and Martin got silver last year so this repeat is great for him.”

Amos Keijser (b), Abe Wiersma (s), Bronze, The Netherlands
“For this race we really wanted to invest in a good start to keep up with the field. In the semifinal our sprint did not go as well as we could, but today that was a lot better, unfortunately not good enough to beat the Norwegians. Next year I’m hoping to make the step to seniors.”