Ward Lemmelijn pulled off an astonishing victory at the 2019 World Indoor Rowing Championships and broke the indoor Belgian record in his event despite taking up the sport only one year ago.
Lemmelijn won the men’s under-23 open race in a time of five minutes and 50.3 seconds, edging Canadian Charles Alexander to be add victory in this race to his European Indoor Rowing Championship gold.
Per WeRow.co.uk, Lemmelijn said after his victory: “My body was feeling strong and I held my race plan perfectly. I didn’t realise it would be so hard. I start rowing just one year ago and this is a PR and a Belgium record. It’s an amazing sport.”