World’s Top Student Rowers come to Kazan for 2012 WUC Canoe Sprint

KAZAN – Participants of the 5th World University Canoe Sprint Championship are arriving in Kazan.

Over 150 athletes from Russia, Czech Republic, Serbia, Moldova, Australia, Poland, France, Japan, Italy, Brazil, Belarus, Hungary, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Cyprus, Uzbekistan and Latvia came to Kazan to compete at the 2012 WUC Canoe Sprint. Among the 24 Canoe Sprint medal events are men’s and women’s races covering distances of 200m, 500m or 1,000m, either solo, in pairs or in crews of four. Up to 50 umpires, including international ones, will judge the championship.

The event is seen as a test event ahead of the 27th Summer Universiade. In early September Kazan will play host to other two test events – the 12th World University Rowing Championship and 4th World University Sport Shooting Championship. The official opening ceremony will take place on Tuesday, August 28th, and the competitions kick off on August 29th and will last three days.

Canoe sprint is a rowing sport where two types of boats are used: canoe and kayak. Canoe sprint is an Olympic sport since 1936 (It first appeared at the 1924 Olympic Games as an unofficial sport). Apart from canoe sprint (or ‘flat water’ rowing), there are many other sports where these two types of boats are used but only canoe slalom is included in the Olympic programme.

(Source: Kazan 2013 Media Dept.)