Records set in entries for 2017 World Rowing Junior Championships

For immediate release
Lausanne, 26 July 2017

A huge entry of 742 rowers in 258 boats from 59 countries has been received for the 2017 World Rowing Junior Championships which will take place on Galve Lake in Trakai, just near Lithuania’s capital of Vilnius, from 2 to 6 August 2017.

Last year Italy topped the medals table and they are sending a full team of 13 boats to try and defend their leader position. Also arriving with full teams are Germany and the United States.

A record entry is in the junior men’s single sculls with rowers from 39 countries participating. Also a record entry for the women as 29 nations will be represented in the junior women’s single sculls. The favourite is likely to be Margaux Bailleul of France. Bailleul finished fourth in the single last year and now a year older, she will be racing against many rowers who are at their first international event. Italy won the women’s single last year and their sculler for this year, Alexandra Kushnir, will have high expectations.

Another record entry in the junior women’s double sculls with rowers from 28 countries taking part including China, Kazakhstan and Chile. Last year this race was won by the United States and Greece took second. The junior men’s double also has a record as entries from 27 countries have been received with New Zealand and Germany likely to be the favourites.

As well as World Championship titles, this event will also act as a qualification event for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, YOG. Even though there are four boat classes at the YOG, all 13 boat classes are used to establish qualification, but with varying numbers of spots. The YOG will be held in Buenos Aires in October 2018.

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 advances to the under-23 category.

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 is: #WRJChamps.

For complete entry list click here.