He Vaulted Twenty-One Metres Across a Canal and Waited Seven Hours in the Rain to Find Out He Had Won
The Dutch national fierljeppen final at Vlist was delayed four hours because wet poles and ramps are unjumpable.
Fierljeppen is Frisian canal vaulting: a run-up, a pole planted in the water, a climb, and a jump for distance into a sand bed. The Dutch national championship, the closing event of the season, was held at Vlist on 29 August.
Germ Terpstra, 20, from Tzum, won the senior title with 21.22m on his third jump. It is his first senior national title.
Rain delayed the meeting by about four hours. Jumping stops for any rain at all, because the run-up ramp and the pole become dangerously slippery. Terpstra first stood on the ramp at quarter to two in the afternoon and did not know he was champion until roughly seven hours later. He restarted his warm-up four times, went into the water on his second jump, and no final round was jumped because the rain got heavier.
The other titles went to Hanneke Westert with 16.33m, Wessel Schenk with 19.00m in the juniors, Jorrit Bouwstra with 18.73m and Yrsa Maats with 13.72m.
Terpstra took all three of the season's major titles in 2026 after returning from injury mid-season. In June at Burgum he cleared 22.11m, a Frisian record and the first time a Frisian had passed 22 metres. The national record of 22.21m, set by Jaco de Groot in 2017, still stands.