PRESS RELEASE: World Rowing announces the 2012 Zurich City Sprints

The 450m invitational city sprints will be held in the heart of Zurich, Switzerland’s largest city and one of the world’s leading financial centres. The Limmat River, which flows out of Lake Zurich, will stage the racing in the historical old town, with the start and finish lines situated between the bridges “Quaibrücke” and “Rathausbrücke”.

Organised by FISA, the International Rowing Federation, this regatta is built on the back of an annual rowing race which has been taking place between Zurich University and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Zurich since 1945.

The 2012 Zurich City Sprints is part of a concept of city sprint regattas intended to develop into a sprint series sanctioned by FISA over the coming years. “Our aim is to bring the sport of rowing to the centre of cities, to the public,” explains FISA Executive Director Matt Smith. “By organising the 2012 Zurich City Sprints, we hope to establish a new, first-class international sports event in Switzerland.”

Top international crews from the Czech Republic, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland have been invited by FISA to take part in this year's regatta in the four boat classes on the international programme: the men’s single sculls (M1x), the women’s single sculls (W1x), the lightweight men’s four (LM4-) and the men’s quadruple sculls (M4x).

2012 Olympic Champion Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic will be the star of the women’s single sculls, while Marcel Hacker of Germany, who won bronze at the Sydney Games and was a finalist London 2012, will feature in the men’s single sculls.

The Swiss and Dutch crews who finished fifth and sixth respectively in the lightweight men’s four final at the London Olympic Games will be racing each other again in Zurich, along with crews from Germany and the Czech Republic.

In the men’s quadruple sculls, Switzerland’s Olympic crew of Augustin Maillefer, André Vonarburg, Nico Stahlberg and Florian Stofer will face a strong German crew that includes World Champions Eric Knittel and Stefan Krueger.

Also on the programme, races in the men’s and women’s eights will showcase university crews from the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology of Lausanne and Zurich as well as from the University of Zurich and the University of St. Petersburg, with professors from the University of Zurich and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Zurich also lining up.

Junior crews that medalled at Swiss national level will gather from the cities of Basel, Biel/Bienne, Lucerne and Zurich to compete against each other in the men’s eight and women’s quadruple sculls.
Racing will take place from 13:00hrs to 17:00hrs, with on-the-water training beginning at 10:00hrs.

Spectators can watch the racing at no cost from the Limmatquai, along the regatta course. A giant screen will also show the racing. Athletes will boat near the Quaibrücke bridge and the finish line will be directly in front of Hotel Storchen, a luxury hotel with a history going back more than 650 years. The victory ceremonies will be held directly after racing on the Rathausbrücke.

Major Sponsor: Gazprombank, Russia's third largest bank. With an office in Zurich, it ensures a strong presence in Switzerland’s important financial market for its Swiss and Russian clients.
Official Sponsor: Parmigiani Fleurier, the Swiss watchmaker of unique, hand-crafted timepieces.
Official Supplier: NewWave (Clothing)