The 2022 season in the rowing Bundesliga ended in Hamburg on the Binnenalster. The men of Gießen Eight had to settle for eleventh place at the final table, the women of Gießen / Wetzlar finished sixth.
At the end of the Bundesliga season, rowers from the Gießen Rowing Society and the Gießen Rowing Club Hassia traveled to the Hamburg Binnenalster last weekend. Against the Leipzig team, Giessen’s Eighth managed to clinch a clear victory from start to finish in the time trial, but it was only enough for tenth place.
In the round of 16 he was against the strong Mülheimer on the Jungfernstieg track in Hamburg. With a good start, Giessen tried to get ahead of the Ruhr boat early, but the second in the standings pulled back from the start. Up to halfway both boats were alike. But then it was the Mülheimers who were able to push the bow ball of their eight forward shot after shot. At the finish she was clearly half a boat in length, with which the next bronze winner won the regatta. “They were just stronger in the back,” admitted Nils Braden. “We can’t get to that level right now.” For Gießen, it was only the second half of the table from then on.
In the quarter-finals there was a duel between Gießen and Hanau. Still frustrated by the lost round of 16, Lahn’s rowers overtook Hanau early on. But after 50 meters they obviously had a problem, they slowed down and just followed them. Giessen crossed the line safely as the winner.
Due to the complicated 18-boat racing system, there was another clash between Giessen and Hanau in the semifinals. The Main rowers saw their chance to make up for the mistake. Gießen was able to prevail again at the start, but then a port rower caught a crab. The boat rocked and swayed. Hanau took the opportunity and immediately returned to the same level. But the Lahn’s Sparkasse rowers kept their nerve. Two beats later they were back to their rhythm. With an early final sprint, they pushed their eight back ahead of Hanau’s team and crossed the line with an air box advantage.
Just in time for the final for positions 13 and 14, the Hanseatic city showed its wet side. In the pouring rain, Giessen took to the track against the Krefeld team. Both teams came off the starting blocks well and shot nose to nose through the Binnenalster. Halfway through the course it was Giessen’s guys who put everything on the line at the end of the season and picked up the pace. They were the first to cross the finish line for just under a second and secured victory in the final race of the season.
“That was one of the best games of the season,” hitter Johannes Birkhan recalled. “We just cleared our heads and did what we could, rowing fast.” For team boss Eric Baumann, the result did not reflect the performance of the day. “Today we have won four races out of five and we are still only 13. This is how it is in this racing system, we have to live with it,” says the boss. of the team.
Münster once again secured the gold medal on “match day” ahead of local heroes Hamburg and Mülheim. At the end of the season, Gießen is in 11th place in the general classification. “Unfortunately we were unable to make up for sick leave, which hit us hard in the summer.”
In Hamburg they rowed Michel Dronka, Nils Braden, Nico Weber, Michael Wieler, Fabian Kröber, Felix Weber, Johannes Birkhan, Sven Keßler, Michael Zönb and Simon Baar, led by Lara Bot.
Munster ends the season as Bundesliga champions ahead of Mülheim, Hannover and Hamburg. Followed by Osnabrück, Berlin, Mainz, Frankfurt, Hamelin and Minden. Gießen is in 11th place ahead of Leipzig, Bremen, Krefeld and Hanau. Witten / Bochum, Kassel and the South Rhine racing community conclude.
Solid place for Lahn’s swans
The Lahnschwane team had to start the fifth and final day of competition of the women’s rowing championship last weekend in difficult conditions. On the one hand the weather with wind, waves and rain on Hamburg’s Binnenalster was not the best, on the other hand the swans had to deal with sick leave – and this once again proved the sportsmanship and fairness among the rowing athletes: Giessen and Wetzlar’s team could only take off because one of the eight female athletes of the “Meenzer Express” was willing to sit on the competition boat.
In the time trial, the women of Central Hesse finished in a very good fifth place. In the race against the Berlin league champions, however, they had to admit defeat. In the semifinal against Minden, the Lahnschwane dominated again and decided for themselves. In the final, Gießen / Wetzlar met again their opponents from the round of 16, Krefeld. Here you can clearly feel that the team was not only less experienced, but also noticeably weakened. The Lahnschwanes finished sixth in the last competition, which also meant a solid sixth place in the overall Bundesliga standings.
Manager Marlon Welsch was satisfied with his team, which was able to position itself firmly in the center of the standings in its first season and therefore has a good starting position for 2023. The winner of the 2022 championship was the “Havelqueenachter “of Berlin.
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