Klem Advances to Semis at World Rowing U23 Championships
July 21, 2006 | Men's Rowing
HAZEWINKEL, Belgium - Competing for his native The Netherlands, Boston University men’s rower Meindert Klem (Ouderkerk, The Netherlands) won a repechage heat in the Senior B Men’s Single Sculls on Friday at the 2006 World Rowing Under 23 Championships to advance to one of the top-two semifinals. From there, he has a chance to make the top final and finish among the very best in the world.
In Thursday’s heat racing, Klem placed third in the first of four five-man heats, as his time of 7:12.91 was ahead of Monaco’s Mathias Raymond (7:17.00) and the United States’ James Dietz (7:21.88), but behind New Zealand’s Nathan Cohen (7:00.90) and Romania’s Daniel Frateanu (7:05.02).
From there, he rowed in the first of two repechages on Friday, where he needed either a first- or second-place finish to advance to the A/B semifinals. His time of 7:14.26 bested the field of six, with Belgium’s Hannes De Reu (7:17.46), Greece’s Ioannis Tsamis (7:17.66), Dietz (7:23.62), Spain’s Angel Cesar Lopez (7:55.10) and Morocco’s Abdelmohayemen Baaova (8:39.10) in second through sixth, respectively.
Klem will now go head-to-head with Raymond, Cohen, Cristian Rosso (Argentina), Karsten Brodowski (Germany) and Arnold Sobczak (Poland) in the A semifinal on Saturday at 8:04 a.m. ET. The top-three finishers will qualify for the A final to compete for first through sixth place in the world, while the bottom three will row in the B final with places seven through 12 on the line.
Although he has only been rowing since 2003, Klem has represented his country at the 2003 European Championships in the single and both the 2004 and 2005 World Rowing Junior Championships in the quadruple sculls. He previously finished third and seventh, respectively, in the 2004 and 2005 World Juniors.
In his first season at BU, Klem rowed in the seven seat of the first freshman eight boat (freshmen are required to row in all-freshman boats) that finished ninth overall at both the Eastern Sprints and the IRA Regatta.
In other international action, 2005 BU graduate and former rower Jaxon Ruddock will compete for Australia in the coxless four event at the 2006 World Rowing Championships in Eton, Great Britain from August 20-27.
