German flavour at Euro Open

Dominated by the German national team and German team hopefuls, the performance of competitors was keenly watched by the national team coach, Hartmut Buschbacher.

But it was a Frenchman that came through to take the men’s open race. Cedric Berrest, 24, set the standard for the 2,000m race in his heat by clocking 5:46. This was faster than last year’s bronze medallists from the German quad, Tim Grohmann and Karsten Brodowski.

In an exciting final, Berrest, however, could not sustain his earlier pace. Grohmann ended on top by coming through in the last 500m with a 1:24 split, finishing with 5:46, ahead of Karsten Brodowski at 5:47. Berrest, who was second in the double in 2009, came in third clocking 5:49.

A new German record was set in the lightweight women’s category with Marie-Louise Draeger recording 7:01. The current record in this category is 6:54, set just last month by American Ursula Grobler. Draeger was chased hard in the final by her lightweight double teammate, Anja Noske. Noske finished in 7:02. This is a personal best for Noske by a full six seconds.

Annekatrin Thiele, 25, was first in the heat of the open women’s event. Thiele is currently in the women’s quad and last year her team finished third at the World Rowing Championships. In the final, however, Thiele succumbed to the German under-23 rowers. Ulrike Sennewald was first in a time of 6:48 with Christian Fernitz second. Thiele came in third. 

At the 2008 Olympics Bastian Seibt (GER) did not make it to the final of the lightweight men’s four due to illness. He stopped rowing but has decided to come back and aim for London 2012. He’s already knocking on the door to get back into the four after his performance at this Euro Open. Seibt did a personal best time of 6:19 and this beat two of the current World Champions from the German lightweight four.

German press officer Oliver Palme commented: “For Hartmut Buschbacher this was an important indicator of the physical abilities. As always there were some outstanding performers and some disappointments. Especially the World Champion eight is not in best shape yet, although it’s a long way to go to New Zealand. Many young athletes performed very well.”

In 2011 Paris, France will host the Euro Open at the end of January.

For full results go to: www.euroopen2010.com