Jord van Weeren left Ankara with two gold medals and a reason to look forward to his own bed. Yet after a week in which he and Nicole Sanders won every title available at the European Championship of Champions, going home still felt a little sad.

“Leaving a fun event always feels sad,” he told BowlingLife's Erikas Jansonas. "It was a tough week, conditions were not easy and it has been a true grind throughout the entire week. In that part I am happy to sleep in my own bed again. But the feeling I have now is mostly proud."

Indeed, the Netherlands had plenty be proud of. Van Weeren and Sanders won mixed doubles gold together before taking the men's and women's individual titles on Saturday.

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Three Dutch titles might suggest a comfortable week in Turkey. But both of them had to work their way through 24 qualifying games, the top-12 stage, the semifinals and the finals before claiming gold.

Van Weeren reached the semifinals in fourth place, just 32 pins ahead of Ireland's Christopher Sloan. Against qualifying leader Raymond Teece, he lost the opening game before winning the next two to reach the final.

Then he had to do it again. Norway's Mathias Danielsen Otting took the first game of the title match, 236–205. Van Weeren answered with 194–166 and 217–177 to become champion.

Sanders beat Greece's Alexandra Giannadaki in the women's final to complete the Dutch sweep of the ECC titles.

“Offcourse it was a tough week, conditions were not easy and it has been a true grind throughout the entire week,” Van Weeren said. "I am proud of what we accomplished as a team. Nicole, along with our coach Elco Gorter and our supporters, made a huge contribution to our results this week."

Strong Team

Earlier in the championship, van Weeren and Nicole Sanders won the mixed doubles title for the Netherlands. Their success was not just about scoring. It also showed how naturally the partnership worked.

“I think that Nicole and I have a lot of faith in each other. We know what we are both capable of on the lanes. This trust, especially when we were bowling together during the Mixed Doubles event, gave each other some room to breathe during tougher moments on the lanes. We were really capable of stepping up when the other was struggling and we did that back and fourth. With our experience and shot making it all just worked out," Van Weeren said.

"But it wasn’t just Nicole and me, Elco Gorter also played a crucial role in achieving this result. His extensive knowledge and vision of the game have been of immense value to our team," he added.

Asked what the party looked like after winning all gold, Van Weeren said the celebration matched the scale of the achievement - maybe even a little too well.

“The Dutch Party? Haha, we had a great time during a great bankuette, lets say the next morning I would not have been able to perform on the same level on the lanes as the mornings before,” he laughed.