Niels van Zandweghe (KR Club Gent) and Marlon Colabert (KRSN Oostende) were the other two best players in the West Flemish. They did not participate in the lightweight category, but in the open category. They finished the two B-finals with third place, which was promising results in a tough field of over twenty teams.
Putting the double oars together would be a luxury issue for national coach Müller, because Thibaut Fifi also put forward his candidacy for a seat in that boat due to his crushing return. “We’re totally on schedule,” says Pete Gross, Tibo’s personal trainer. “Together with Professor Jean Bourgeois, we have charted the path that Thibault will follow during and after his rehabilitation.”
Vyvey strictly implemented this program. So he was ready in mid-March for a national run, culminating in a one-day start at Memorial d’Aloja. “On Saturday, Thibault absorbed the pre-match and A-final flawlessly. Then he indicated that he wanted to go out on Sunday without any fear and his opponents knew that,” Gross laughs. “Thibault towers above the other lightweights. Ireland’s Hugh Moore, silver at the U-23 World Championships last year, faced a four-second deficit after 2,000 metres.”
“It seemed to be a slow and desperate rehabilitation, until I went to Jean Bourgeois for advice. I followed him blindly and the result turned out to be correct.”
Tipu Fifi
After the double success of Italy, Tibo Vyvey was willing to look back on the past seven months with an open mind. “On July 28, during the U-23 World Cup in Varese, I suddenly passed out a few hours after I won the semi-final,” says the Bruges native. “I woke up in the hospital and it turned out I had been the victim of a stroke. Gone was the World Cup final and also the World Cup gold, for which I was undoubtedly one of the favorites after my pre-match and semi-final victories, but especially with my best times. Instead of this sporting triumph I spent five days in an Italian hospital and then another five days of observation at AZ Jan Palfijn in Ghent.”
Vyvey thought of a quick rehab, but it turned out to be very exhilarating. “At first I was hoping to get to the European Championships in September, but that hope soon turned out to be in vain. After that I was looking forward to the Belgian Championship and other year-end races, but they overtook me too. It seemed like a slow and desperate rehab, until I went to Jean Bourgeois for advice. A professor of exercise physiology from Ghent has also been a Belgian rowing consultant for many years and is therefore the right man in the right place to assess whether a potential return was realistic. Straight to the point, the professor put things bluntly: “We will slowly rehabilitate and gradually rebuild your physical capabilities and will only decide in February whether competitive rowing is possible without any risk of relapse.” His prognosis seemed harsh, but he offered me hopeful perspectives. I blindly followed his advice and the result turned out to be correct. In February I was allowed to practice hard, at the beginning of March I was allowed to enter the competition carefully and last weekend in Bidloco I crowned my international comeback with a double win.”
In preparation for Memorial d’Aloja, Vyvey first went on an internship for… Varese. “At first it was very confrontational, but soon there was this overwhelming feeling: I’m back. Also immediately there was the image of the physically long and mentally difficult road I’d walked. In particular, the fear during the efforts of the possibility of relapse or the too bright focus that I evaluated many Illnesses incorrectly made it very difficult to complete certain training sessions. The fact that I managed to close out those hellish seven months with an international double whammy meant a reward for my hard work and also a thank you to everyone who supported me during that time.”
Now more than ever, Vyvey wants to focus on his esports future. “Next weekend I will start the regatta in Ghent in the single sculls and in the double sculls with my Ostend teammate Marlon Colabert, with whom I won the World Cup bronze and the European Championship gold in 2021. After two weeks, I want to shine in the The Belgian Championships are there to prove my candidacy for a place in the national light double sculls. National coach Axel Müller wants to impose a participation card for Paris 2024, a project to which I would like to contribute.
