13 May 2021

The World Rowing Executive Committee announced on Monday that the 2021 World Rowing Junior Championships will be held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, on 11-15 August 2021. The Committee writes:

As required by World Rowing’s event management guidance (Return to Regattas found here) which has been successfully tested during 2020 and 2021 so far, the Federation’s Organising Committee (OC) has developed a COVID-19 response plan for staging the event based on the recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and World Rowing.

The plan has been carefully reviewed and approved by the Local Health Authorities. World Rowing and the OC are confident that the measures planned to be in place are appropriate to minimise the risk of transmission and infection at the event. The event COVID-19 Response Plan will shortly be available on the OC website, here.

Each Member Federation is responsible to exercise maximum care for its team members before, during and after the event. All participants must follow the measures in the OC COVID-19 Response Plan at all times, including the wearing of masks except in the boat, on an ergometer or at meals, social distancing and regular disinfection among the other measures published by the OC.

In addition to meeting any airline or government requirements, each participant at the regatta will be required to present a negative PCR COVID-19 test result, no older than 72 hours, at the accreditation centre on arrival at the venue. Additionally, all participants will have to complete a Pre-Event Health Questionnaire and Member Federations are obliged to sign a Member Federation Consent Form accepting responsibility for their team members. The forms will be sent out to Member Federations directly by the Plovdiv OC and must be completed and returned to the OC by email. The forms must be signed and returned by 07 August 2021.

All participation conditions will be explained to participating athletes and officials in a webinar briefing to be organised before travel to the event. To protect the health of all participants, anyone not adhering to the participation conditions will be immediately disqualified and excluded from the event, at the discretion of the World Rowing Executive Committee.

World Rowing and the Plovdiv OC continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation in Bulgaria and the latest recommendations from the WHO and local health authorities. Any further updates will be communicated to the Member Federations directly.