[1] Van der Linden started rowing in 1992 and made his international senior debut in the lightweight fours at the 2000 World Championships in Zagreb.
[2] Van der Linden, Snijders, Karel Dormans as well as Joeri de Groot started a new adventure in the lightweight double sculls in 2003, finishing second in the Munich World Cup and fourth in Luzern.
[2] In 2007 he made his comeback in the lightweight fours boat with Wolter Blankert, Arnoud Greidanus and Ivo Snijders in Linz where they finished in fourth position.
[2] With Roeland Lievens and Paul Drewes as replacements of Blankert and Greidanus they improved their result to a third place in Luzern and they created some high expectations for the World Championships in Munich.
After they finished ninth in Luzern, Greidanus was replaced by Paul Drewes, and in Poznań they rowed to a fifth place, which meant qualification for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.