2015 World Rowing Junior Championships tests the Rio Olympic regatta course

For immediate release
Lausanne, 29 July 2015

World Rowing is pleased to announce the entries for the 2015 World Rowing Junior Championships which will take place from 5 to 9 August 2015 at the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games rowing regatta course in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The junior championships will act as the test event for next year’s Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games and will be staged at the regatta course at Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, Ipanema beach in Rio. Athletes from 54 countries have entered the regatta including a full team of 13 boats from both Germany and the United States.

Germany topped the medals table at last year’s World Rowing Junior Championships including gold medals in the men’s and women’s single sculls. These two boat classes have attracted the largest number of entries with 25 countries entered in the men’s single and 23 in the women’s single. Racing for Germany, Henrik Runge will be in the men’s single. Runge won gold last year as a junior competing in the men’s quadruple sculls. Alicia Bohn will race in the women’s single. She is competing for the first time on the German national team.

Also sending a full team is the United States. The US took medals in the women’s four and women’s pair last year. While the majority of this year’s team are competing at their first international regatta, Marlee Blue and Dana Moffat will return to compete in the women’s four.

Romania finished second on the medals table in 2014 and this year they have entered six crews with their focus especially on the women’s pair where they hope to defend their 2014 title as well as go after gold in the men’s pair following their 2014 silver medal.

The Italians are regularly successful at the junior level and they have entered an 11-boat team in the hope of improving on their one gold medal from last year. China has entered seven boats with the women’s four likely to be their main focus after they won gold in this boat class at last year’s junior championships.

As the event is being hosted in Brazil, a large number of Latin and Central American nations are attending, including Uruguay, Paraguay, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Colombia and Bolivia. Brazil will be represented by 22 athletes.

Coaches, media and sporting representatives from around the world will be taking special interest in this regatta as it tests the running of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games rowing regatta. All features of running an Olympic regatta will be tested including the regatta course, race filming, timing systems and results distribution.

For rowers to be eligible to compete at the World Rowing Junior Championships, they must be 18 years of age or under. A rower can compete as a junior until 31 December of the year in which he or she reaches the age of 18; after that date the rower is classified as an under-23 rower.

Live race tracker, audio streaming, results, race reports, photo gallery and live blog as well as updates on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram will be available throughout the regatta on www.worldrowing.com. The official hashtag for the event are: #WRJChamps.

For complete entries – click here.