German men's single shock winner

These championships are one of the stages leading to the selection of the German national rowing team for the international regatta season and, ultimately, for the Olympic Games.

A number of athletes were ill and unable to race over the weekend, including Marcel Hacker who earned the title of European Champion in the men’s double sculls with Stephan Krueger in 2015. Hacker represented Germany in the men’s single sculls internationally since 1999 and is a nine-time German champion in the single. Last year, he switched to the double.

Athletes who were ill during the national championship weekend can still have a go at national selection.

The German squad lined up in seven boat classes: the men’s and women’s pair, the lightweight men’s pair, the lightweight men’s and women’s single sculls, as well as the men’s and women’s single sculls.

In the men’s single sculls, the young and feisty Philipp-Andre Syring surprised the field by moving up the ranks in the second half of the race to overtake Stephan Krueger, the 2015 national champion in this boat class. Syring finished sixth in the men’s single sculls at the 2015 World Rowing Under 23 Championships.

In the women’s single sculls, the A-final featured five 2015 World Champion medallists. Marie-Catherine Arnold in first, Lisa Schmidla in second, Annekatrin Thiele in third and Carina Baer in fifth were all part of last year’s women’s quadruple sculls that won silver at last year’s World Rowing Championships in Aiguebelette and took gold at the 2015 European Rowing Championships. Julia Lier, who came in fourth at these small boat championships in the single, is also a 2015 medallist having earned silver in the double.

In the men’s pair, the top three crews hailed from the German men’s eight, with Anton Braun and Felix Drahotta crossing the line first, followed by the pair of Richard Schmidt and Eric Johannesen and then Maximilian Munski and Hannes Ocik.

With Germany’s senior women’s eight racing at the World Rowing Cup in Varese that same weekend, the women’s pair line-up consisted mainly of junior and under-23 athletes who previously medalled at the World Rowing Junior Championships. Friederike Reissig and Leah Labudde led the field from start to finish.

In the lightweight women’s single sculls Marie-Louise Draeger recorded her ninth win nationally in this boat class. Her 2015 crewmate in the lightweight women’s double sculls, Fini Sturm, followed in second, while Anja Noske, a 2015 World Champion in the lightweight women’s quadruple sculls, crossed the line in third.

In the lightweight men’s single sculls, the top two finishers also hailed from the lightweight double. Moritz Moos finished ahead of Jason Osborne. Together they raced to sixth at the World Rowing Championships in Aiguebelette, France, last year. Konstantin Steinhübel, who scored a fourth-place last year in the lightweight men’s single sculls at the World Champs, crossed the line in third at these German championships.

Germany has qualified nine boats for the Olympic Games so far – five male boat classes and four female boat classes.

To consult the detailed results of the German small boat championships, please click here: https://verwaltung.rudern.de/event/show/1422/results

To view the list of Olympic qualified boats to date, please click here: http://www.worldrowing.com/mm//Document/General/General/12/26/16/2016OlympicQualification_110416_Neutral.pdf