Four week countdown to World Rowing Championships

This is the four-weeks-to-go signal for the biggest rowing event of 2011, The World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia.

On 28 August 2011, the heats for the lightweight men’s single sculls will signal the start of racing on Lake Bled as rowers work throughout the week to become World Champions. In the Olympic events they will also be working towards qualifying their boat for next year’s Olympic Games. This regatta doubles as the first, and biggest, Olympic Qualification Regatta for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

For host nation Slovenia, this is the biggest sporting event of the year. More than 60 countries have already confirmed their participation in the championships and this year’s teams will include adaptive rowing crews who will have the added challenge of trying to qualify for next year’s Paralympic Games in London.

This year, like 2010, the finals will be spread over four days beginning on 1 September with the adaptive intellectually disabled mixed four and finish with the blue riband men’s eight event on 4 September. The men’s eight is expected to be a clash between the unbeaten World Champion German eight and the feisty British with the Netherlands, the United States and Canada waiting to cut in on the German-British battle.

The rest of the story here: worldrowing.com