New World Champions expected in Para-rowing finals

At the 2013 World Rowing Championships, staged in Chungju (KOR) from 25 August to 1 September, very strong winds are expected to arrive on the afternoon of Thursday 29 August – the original time for the Para-rowing finals. These finals will now take place on Wednesday 28 August starting at 14:50 (local Korean time).

The AS women's single sculls (ASW1x) will race first and Russia's Natalia Bolshakova looks to be gearing up to bring an exceptional season to a fitting end. Bolshakova has gone unbeaten this year, her first year of Para-rowing internationally. Also in her first year of Para-rowing Birgit Skarstein of Norway recorded a very fast time in her heat and will be in contention to win the gold. Struggling to find form has been Paralympic and World Champion Alla Lysenko of Ukraine. Lysenko has qualified for the final through the repechage.

The AS men's single sculls (ASM1x) saw Eric Horrie of Australia come very close to breaking the World Best Time when he raced under no pressure in the heats. Horrie was the 2012 Paralympic silver medallist and he will meet the London Paralympic bronze medallist Alexey Chuvashev of Russia in the final. Chuvashev finished first in his heat which pushed reigning World Champion Tom Aggar of Great Britain into the repechage. Aggar has made it through to the final to add to the intensity of this race.

The TA mixed double sculls (TAMix2x) saw France's Perle Bouge and Stephane Tardieu record a very fast time in the heats to make them the favourites in the A-final. They will find their toughest competition coming from Robert Jones and Oksana Masters of the United States as well as Kathryn Ross and Gavin Bellis of Australia. All of these crews raced at last year's Paralympic Games.

Debuting at these World Championships is the LTA mixed double sculls (LTAMix2x). This new boat class attracted entries from five nations and in their preliminary race Ukraine's Kateryna Morozova and Dmytro Aleksieiev proved to be the fastest boat.

The LTA mixed coxed four (LTAMix4+) will round out the day of racing and six nations will be competing in this final. Great Britain are the reigning Paralympic Champions in this event and they proved that, even with big changes to the boat that rowed a year ago in London, they are still fast. The British finished first in their preliminary race.  

The 2013 World Rowing Championships, which will continue until 1 September 2013 at the Tangeum International Rowing Regatta venue, showcase 27 contesting boat classes. The next round of finals will take place on Friday 30 August with the women's four, men's coxed pair, lightweight men's pair, lightweight men's and women's single sculls, lightweight men's eight and lightweight men's and women's quadruple sculls.

All finals and semifinals will be video-streamed live. Please go to www.worldrowing.com/video for details.

To view the schedule, click here.

For full race reports, photos and results please go to www.worldrowing.com.