qualification for the Olympics
Zeidler confident before World Rowing Championships: “Hard to beat”
Oliver Zeidler is the only German medal aspirant for the World Championships in Belgrade. photo
© Philipp Schmidli/Keystone/dpa/archive image
The times with plenty of medals are over for the time being. At the World Championships in Belgrade, the German rowers are primarily targeting the Olympic starting places for 2024. Only one is considered a gold aspirant.
The German one-hope Oliver Zeidler travels to the Rowing World Championships with great self-confidence.
“I think I’m still hard to beat on a 90 percent day. If the form is even worse, it will of course be interesting. But I’m actually quite confident,” said the two-time world champion (2019/2022) more fully Hope for a successful course of the title fights from September 3rd to 10th in Belgrade.
According to his own statement, the “main focus is on the Olympic qualification”, which would be perfect with a ninth place. “Everything else is a bonus. But of course I have high expectations. Defending the title would be a good pointer towards Paris next year,” commented the 27-year-old.
Hardly any medal candidates from Germany
After a strong season so far, Zeidler is the only German medal candidate in the 14 Olympic competition classes. DRV head coach Brigitte Bielig warned against expectations that were too high. “We have a young team and still need time to develop it further. We would be satisfied with six qualifying boats this year. Anything below that causes problems.”
In the fight for the Olympic tickets, the Germany eight is also in great demand. Only the five best big boats of the World Cup are safe in Paris. The remaining teams have to go into the post-qualification next year. Eighth batsman Mattes Schönherr is confident that the former DRV parade boat in Belgrade will do better than at the World Cup almost a year ago in the Czech Republic with seventh place. “We are aware of the responsibility and want to take this step. We can do it.”