New Name, New Venue, No Picnic ? World Under 23 Rowing Regatta

Preparing for the start line in Genoa. Jan Masyn
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Genoa, Italy is about to be filled with tomorrow’s champions of the rowing world. Formerly known as the Nations Cup, the World Under 23 Rowing Regatta starts on July 26. Pre-elite rowers from Bangladesh to Belgium, Tunisia to Turkey make up part of the 40 countries participating.

The regatta originated out of a need for ?second level’ athletes to have an international event separate from the ?elite’ class. This, however, has not dampened the intensity of competition. A number of athletes at the regatta have already competed at the elite level. At the second World Cup, last week in Lucerne, Switzerland, Miroslava Knapkova of the Czech Republic, won bronze in the women’s single. She will be one of the favourites in Genoa. Australia also tested a number of their under 23 crews with the lightweight men’s pair of Ross Brown and Tom Nicholls making the A-final.

Athletes range in age from 16 to 23 years old and all have been chosen by their national federations to represent their country as a developing stage for future Olympic champions.

For the first time Japan is sending athletes with the Japanese contingent including a men’s eight. Germany and Italy are boating the largest number. Both have 56 athletes competing.

In the heart of the Mediterranean, Genoa gets its name from the Latin, ?Janua’, meaning gate. This describes the city’s access to the sea and the regatta course is right on the Mediterranean. The site is newly constructed and this regatta will be its unveiling to the international rowing scene.

A break wall has been constructed to protect the course as wind speeds can get up to 23 km/hr. The seaward side has also been planted with trees and a bike path runs most of the length for following races.

Preliminary heats begin on July 26 and the progression through repechages and semi-finals culminate with finals on the afternoon of July 28.