Overall Winning Nation to be Determined at Zurich Rowing World Cup Final Regatta

Rowers from over 40 nations will be competing in the final leg of the Zurich Rowing World Cup to be held in Munich, Germany from 1 to 3 August. A total of 680 athletes will row in 275 boats in a final chance to earn the precious points that could lead to the title of World Cup Champion.

Germany currently leads the points table following the first two regattas of the series with a total of 142 points. Great Britain is in second place on 75 points followed very closely by Italy on 74. Germany has been the overall World Cup winning nation for the past four years and with entries in every Olympic boat class is certainly looking to add a fifth consecutive title to the list.

The international entry to race on the Olympic rowing course in Munich counts an impressive 37 Sydney Olympic medallists and forty-one 2001 World Champions. The complete rowing programme of 24 boat classes will be raced in this last international meet before the 2002 World Rowing Championships to be held in Seville, Spain from 15 to 22 September.

The World Cup finals, to be raced on Saturday 3 August will be transmitted on the European sports channel Eurosport as well as on ARD in Germany, the BBC in Great Britain, NOS in the Netherlands, TVE in Spain, HRT in Croatia and several other European television channels.

The Zurich Rowing World Cup is an annual competition series comprising three regattas featuring the fourteen Olympic boat classes racing over a classic 2000 metre distance. Points will be awarded to the highest placing boats at each regatta in the fourteen Olympic boat classes. A winning federation will be declared after each regatta and the nation winning the overall Zurich Rowing World Cup will be determined at the end of the three regattas. In 2002, the regattas of the series take place in Hazewinkel, Belgium (14 -16 June), Lucerne, Switzerland (12-14 July) and the final in Munich, Germany (1 – 3 August).

The title sponsor for the 2002 Zurich Rowing World Cup is Zurich Financial Services group, a Swiss-based global financial services company.

Visit the official website of the International Rowing Federation and the Zurich Rowing World Cup www.worldrowing.com, for a full list of entries, a racing timetable as well as an extensive boat class preview. During racing, this website will provide live scoring, interviews, press releases, start lists and full results.

For more information please contact Kathleen Di Giacomo at FISA Headquarters Tel: +41.21.617.83.73 – E-mail : kathleen.digiacomo@fisa.org