Video: Watch Roel Braas Set a New Dutch Indoor Record for 2k



The records have already started to fall early in this 2013-2014 indoor rowing season. Just a few weeks ago, California Rowing Club's Kate Bertko broke her own world record for 6k, recording a 21:45.3 having weighed in a 129.6 pounds (smashing her previous record of 22:06.3 also set this year). And now, the 26-year-old Olympian Roel Braas has continued to add to what has already been an outstanding year with a new Dutch record, posting a 5:43.7 after an all-out battle with the young Stef Broenink (just 23 years of age), who finished close behind in 5:45.3. 

Braas announced his candidacy for the podium at the world level with a victory over defending Olympic champion Mahé Drysdale at the 2013 Holland Beker, and backed up that performance with a fifth-place finish in Chungju in a hotly contested final, which saw all six scullers finish within 11 seconds of one another (Braas' time was roughly seven seconds short of world champion Ondrej Synek, and three seconds from a medal). Like the USRowing's Elle Logan, Braas managed to crack the A final at the highest level of sculling after competing in the eight at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

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-RR

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