I wouldn’t be surprised if the Dutch coaches decide not to enter any boats. There are 4 events without a Dutch quota. It seems unlikely they will be able to find competitive LDS. There was no Dutch W8 in Belgrade, and one could only be formed through having athletes enter in two events. So it really depends on the schedule in Paris and the willingness of the coaches to take risks on double starts. If they do, it would inevitably be a very competitive boat, consisting of more than a few current World Champions in other boats. Remains the MSS. I think it’s anyone’s guess, but if competitive rowers were available, they would have started in Belgrade. This was clearly the odds and ends boat, without any real expectation of success.
Seriously, the stunning results are testament to the attitude of the Rowing coaches. It would have been quite easy after last years success to be complacent. Instead, the fact that only 1 of those 9 medals was a gold one, was enough reason to look critically at the program. After the EuCh earlier this year, which again saw many medals, but only 2 golds, the coaches reshuffled the boats, making some very tough and risky decisions. In the end, the result was 1 less medal, but 4 more golds than last year.
Given that this was the first time ever the Dutch team won more than 1 gold medal in Olympic events at Worlds, we nearly doubled the number of world titles won in Olympic events from 7 to 12, and for the first time a Dutch Olympic event world champion managed to retain his/her title, that conclusion is premature. It will probably all come to very little in Paris next year.
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In the 2022 World Champs the silver winning Dutch W8 was formed by rowers double starting. But it’s certainly not a regular event.
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