Niels Van Zandweghe (KR Club Gent) and Marlon Colpaert (KRSN Oostende) are the other two West Flemish top rowers. They don’t follow the lightweight class, but the open category. They ended their two B-finals with third place, which was an expected result on a tough field with over twenty teams.

Putting together a lightweight double scull will be a luxury matter for national trainer Müller, as Tibo Vyvey is also running for a seat on this boat due to his incredible comeback. “We are very on schedule,” says Piet Graus, Tibo’s personal trainer. “Together with Professor Jan Bourgois, we are charting the trajectory that Tibo will follow during and after his rehabilitation.”

Vyvey strictly enforces the program. Therefore, by mid-March he was ready to participate in the national training course, culminating in a one-day start at the Memorial d’Aloja. “On Saturday, Tibo digested the pre-match and final A perfectly. He then showed that he wants to go all out on Sunday without fear and his opponents know it”, laughs Graus. “Tibo towers over the other lightweight classes. Irishman Hugh Moore, silver at last year’s U23 World Championships, even faced a four-second deficit after 2,000 metres.

“It seemed to be a slow and hopeless rehabilitation, until I went to Jan Bourgois for advice. I followed it blindly and the results turned out to be correctly predicted.”

Tibo Vyvey

After his double success in Italy, Tibo Vyvey is willing to look back on the past seven months with an open mind. “On July 28, during the U23 World Cup in Varese, I suddenly lost consciousness a few hours after my victory in the semifinals,” said the Bruges native. “I woke up in the hospital and found myself a victim of a cerebral thrombosis. Gone are the World Cup finals as well as the World Cup gold, which I was without a doubt tipped as the big favorite after my pre-match and semi-final wins, but especially with my best times. Instead of such a sporting triumph, I spent five days in an Italian hospital and another five days on observation at AZ Jan Palfijn in Ghent.

Vyvey thought about a quick rehabilitation, but found it too euphoric. “Initially I hoped to reach the European Championships in September, but that hope turned out to be too vain. After that I’m looking forward to the Belgian Championship and another year-end race, but they pass me too. It seemed to be a slow and hopeless rehabilitation, until I went to Jan Bourgois for advice. The sports physiology professor from Ghent has also been Belgium’s top rowing consultant for many years and is therefore the right person in the right place to assess whether a possible return is realistic. Straight to the point, the professor explained very pointedly: ‘We will slowly rehabilitate, gradually rebuilding your physical abilities and only decide in February if competitive rowing is possible without risk of relapse.’ The diagnosis sounds harsh, but it gives me a hopeful perspective. I blindly followed his advice and the results predicted correctly. In February I was allowed to train hard, in early March I was allowed to carefully follow the competition and last weekend at Piedeluco I crowned my international return with a double win.”

In preparation for the Memorial d’Aloja, Vyvey first apprenticed at … Varese. “It was very confrontational at first, but soon there was a super feeling: here I am again. There also immediately emerged the image of the long physically and mentally difficult road I had traveled. Mainly the fear during attempts for a possible relapse or the overly bright focus that leads me to misjudge many ailments, making it quite difficult to complete certain training sessions. The fact that I was able to cap off those terrible seven months with an international double for me means a reward for my hard work and also thanks to everyone who supported me during that period.”

Now more than ever, Vyvey wants to focus on his sporting future. “Next weekend I will start at the Ghent regatta in single scull and double scull with my Ostend teammate Marlon Colpaert, with whom I won World Cup bronze and European Championship gold in 2021. Two weeks later I want to shine at the Belgian Championships and there to prove my candidacy for a spot in the national lightweight double scull. National coach Axel Müller wants to issue a participation ticket for Paris 2024, a project that I would like to contribute to.”