64 athletes have been selected to compete for Great Britain at the 2021 European Rowing Championships in Varese, Italy (9-11 April 2021).
British Rowing Director of Performance Brendan Purcell commented: “It has been 20 months since we last competed at an international regatta and the whole squad cannot wait to get racing again. When we came home from the World Rowing Championships in September 2019 with ten boats qualified for the Olympic Games and three boats qualified for the Paralympic Games, we had no idea of the challenges that would lie ahead.
“I’m incredibly proud of every single member of the GB Rowing Team, from the athletes to the coaching staff. They have worked tirelessly over this period, maintaining fitness levels and working towards a time when we could safely compete again.”
This postponement of competition has opened up some amazing opportunities for athletes, none more so than for double Olympic champion and mother of three Helen Glover who has returned to training with the GB Rowing Team and will be racing in the women’s pair with Olympic silver medallist, Polly Swann.
Looking ahead to her first competitive race since the Olympic Games in Rio 2016, Glover commented: “I’ve been back full time for three months now and being selected for the Europeans is the first step on my mission to become the first woman in British Rowing history to make an Olympic team after having children. I’m finding the journey exciting and extremely challenging, but I hope I can return from Varese with some success stories to share with the children.”
Later this Spring, the GB Rowing Team will have the opportunity to qualify four additional boats for this Summers’ Olympic Games – the Lightweight men’s double sculls (LM2x), Men’s single scull (M1x), Men’s pair (M2-) and Women’s double sculls (W2x). All four boats will be racing in Varese as a warm up to the Final Qualifying Olympic Regatta in Lucerne in May. The crews selected for the Europeans comprise Sam Mottram & Jamie Copus in the LM2x, Matthew Haywood in the M1x, Harry Glenister & Morgan Bolding in the M2- and Holly Nixon & Saskia Budgett in the W2x.
The European Rowing Championships also marks another milestone for British Rowing, being the first time ever that a Para team will be racing at the event.
Chief Coach for the Paralympic Programme, Tom Dyson said: “This is the first time we’ve ever selected a Paralympic set of boats for the Europeans and the team are really excited to be making history at the event. We’ve been working hard to step up from training to racing and have been developing race day routines to ensure the athletes are fully prepared for when they get out on the start line. They can’t wait to get out to Italy and onto the water.”
You can watch the GB Rowing Team in Varese live on Sunday, 11 April from 8.55am on the BBC Red Button, iPlayer and BBC website and all the A Finals on BBC2 from 1pm-3pm. The semi-finals will also be shown on the Red Button on Saturday, 10 April from 9.30am. You can also follow the action on www.worldrowing.com and British Rowing social media channels in the build-up to finals weekend.
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