Twins triumphant

Press, 6 November 1978, Page 6

Twins triumphant

From TIM DUNBAR I i An impressive return to I top rowing was made by the 1 | twin brothers, Bernd and Jorg Landvoigt (East , j Germany), who regained i Itheir title in the coxless pairs [with victory by a clear mar- • igin over Britain (John : Roberts and Jim Clark) at Lake Karapiro yesterday. The blond identical twins,, who look the part of physical education teachers in Pots-' dam. took last season off for; examinations after winning' (the Olympic gold at. Montreal land the two previous world I championships. I Russia won the world title Hast year in the absence of, 'the twin Landvoigts, aged 27. !Their new combination did, (not make, the finals this time and it was the 1977 silver ••medallist Britain, which, (chased the East Germans all' | rhe way down the course. At .the end, though, the chal- ! lenger was just over a length I back.

I It was a day for the oars- ( men to get their titles back i Another successful in this re- t gat'd was the 25-year-old i West German, Peter-Michael t Kolbe, who took his i country’s only gold 1 medal with a clear-cut i victory over Rudiger Reiche 1 (East Germany) and the pro- . raising Yugoslav, Milorad t Siariulov, in the single sculls. Kolbe was the champion i (back in 1975 at Nottingham i and his career has beeni; isomewhat in decline since, he ; ; finished second behind Pertti Karppinen (Finland) at Montreal. ' Ironically, it has been a .former East German rowing; coach, Richard Wecke. who has been largely responsible for the come-back. Wecke coached the East German women’s eight last year but moved to Hamburg during the winter and started to pro-' [ vide the sort of advice Kolbe : thought he needed. The 1 94m Kolbe sculled i brilliantly yesterday to shakeoff the challenge of Reiche,

(an Olympic gold medallist in quadruple sculls). However. a major disappointment was the failure of Karppinen, who had had a grand season in Europe. Yesterday the Finn figured in the race only until the 100 m mark and finished sixth: his coach. Juhai Julku. could not understand why he did so badly. One “first" yesterday was the appearance of Ireland in two finals — rhe coxless (pairs (fifth) and rhe coxed pairs (sixth). ’’reviously Ireland had only appeared in sculling finals at world championships and Sean Drea took a silver medal in ithe singles at Nottingham in 1975. Most winning coxswains got the traditional "dunking" after the medal presentations. One unscheduled splash, though, was made by the gymnast-Norwegian coach, Kjell Ember, who was thrown iin by his countrymen, the c Hansen brothers, after they . received their gold.