What’s next for the GB Rowing Team in 2020?
With less than eight months before the Olympic opening ceremony in Tokyo, the path to the Olympic and Paralympic Games is well and truly underway
GB juniors compete on Tokyo's Sea Forest Waterway. Credit All Mark One
Here’s some highlights that GB Rowing Team fans can look forward to over the coming year:
1. Olympic Trials
The final Olympic trials of the season will take place on 13-15 March, where aspiring GB rowers from around the UK will be invited to test themselves against the country’s best rowers at the national training centre, Caversham (near Reading). You can follow all the action and results on British Rowing’s digital channels.
Know a potential Olympian? The final open assessment for the GB Rowing Team is on Saturday, 15 February at Boston Rowing Club. Find out all the information here.
2. World Cup II
The GB Rowing Team are targeting World Cup II as their first competition of the season. The event takes place from 1-3 May in Varese, Italy and will be the first opportunity for Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls to test themselves against the rest of the world. You can keep up with all the action on British Rowing digital channels or through the livestreams on worldrowing.com.
3. Final Olympic Qualification Regatta
The GB Rowing Team have qualified ten boats for the Olympic Games but four qualification opportunities remain in the men’s pair, the men’s single scull, the lightweight men’s double sculls and the women’s double sculls. The competition (17-19 May, Lucerne) will be tough for the GB crews who enter, with only one potential qualification spot from each event. Lucerne will then play host to World Cup III the following weekend (22-24 May) where more GB crews will be in action.
4. The Olympic Games
The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games get underway on Friday, 24 July. Rowing is one of the first events, starting on the Friday morning even before the opening ceremony. Make sure you’re prepared by having a look at the provisional schedule on the Tokyo 2020 website with information on how you can follow TeamGB on TV and online coming soon.
5. World Rowing Championships
The World Rowing Championships, World Rowing U23 Championships and World Rowing Junior Championships will all take place in a mega-event in Bled this summer (16-24 August). GB’s U23 squad topped the medal table in 2019 with a record-breaking six gold and two silver medals – make sure you tune in to British Rowing to see if they can go one better in 2020.
6. The Paralympic Games
The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games kicks off on Tuesday, 25 August, with rowing starting on Friday, 28 August. The International Paralympic Committee announced last year that rowing will be broadcast live for the first time, meaning fans will be able to tune in to Channel 4 to see GB crews in action in the PR1 men’s single sculls, the PR2 mixed double sculls and the PR3 mixed coxed four.
Make sure you’re following British Rowing on Instagram for all the behind-the-scenes squad content.
