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11th World University Rowing Championship

Szeged, Hungary - August 13th to 15th, 2010

The very strong Italian team understandably prevailed at the 11^th edition of the World University Rowing Championships in Szeged, Hungary.

Szeged, Hungary's "Sun City" hosted the 11^th World University Rowing Championships in 2010. This was not the first try for this major university centre – Szeged had already organized a World University Championship in 2006 for squash.

A paradise for water sports, Szeged has a major asset in the Tisza River and the Maty-er Olympic Centre, a magnificent facility reserved for canoeing, kayaking and rowing. Several world and regional competitions in canoe sprint, a very popular sport in Hungary, have been successfully staged here. Lionel Girard, our technical delegate for rowing, was very impressed with the body of water that he inspected on several occasions. To put it simply, he thinks it is the best in the world. So our university teams met there to the delight of a large audience. Rowing is a sport that always attracts excellent participation and this edition was no exception with entries from 5 continents representing 28 nations, including South Africa. In all 350 athletes made the trip – 251 men and 99 women. About 150 boats stood on the pool that complied perfectly with FISA standards with 7 lanes each 13.5 m wide. According to Lionel Girard, the organization was excellent from every standpoint.

The races lasted three days under fairly good weather conditions, despite a choppy wind during the finals.

At the conclusion of the games, medals were distributed to 17 countries of the 28 enrolled, on four out of five continents – something quite exceptional.

Three countries led the ranks: Italy, Great Britain and Germany, with 5 medals each. Italy came in first with 3 medals in gold and 2 in silver. Poland got four 4, two of which were gold and maintained the title it won in Belgrade in 2008 in the lightweight double sculls.

Germany ranked slightly behind with one gold medal and four silver.

Finally, Great Britain was second in the final rank (with 2 gold medals and 3 silver), and victorious in the 8, showing that it is still a great rowing nation.

Overall, the rowers were excellent, both men and women, and close to the level of the U23 FISA (International Rowing Federation) world championships, confirming that the university competition is a high quality rendez-vous in the world rowing calendar.

As usual, Mr. Mike Williams, Treasurer and member of the FISA Executive Committee was present at Szegred. He confirmed that he is enthusiast and proud of having been involved in the World University Rowing Championships since 1998, and he is pleased to see that rowing has been chosen as an optional sport by the Summer Universiade organizing committees for 2013 (Kazan) and 2015 (Gwangju).

We should mention that FISA and FISU have signed an agreement and one of the consequences is that FISA offers us assistance with technical aspects and umpires for our competitions.

The 12^th World University Rowing Championship will be held in Banyoles, Spain in 2012. A delegation of the Spanish organizing committee made the trip to Szeged. This was an opportunity to become more familiar with the event and to meet the FISU and FISA delegates to get a better assessment of what they will need for their future organization.