Linz-Ottensheim, Austria has been selected by the International Rowing Federation (FISA) to host the first stage of the 2007 Rowing World Cup series on the Linz-Ottensheim International Regatta Course. Linz, Austria now joins Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Lucerne, Switzerland as hosts of the 2007 series event.
The Linz-Ottensheim regatta course, which will also host the 2008 World Rowing Junior and Senior Championships, is under going extensive reconstruction work. The boat area will be increased to double the available space and the regatta course itself has recently been widened to accommodate eight lanes and dredged to three metres depth in order to be eligible to host a major World Rowing event.
In addition, the Linz-Ottensheim regatta course now features a television road which runs on the south side along the whole 2000 meter length of the course, and will be equipped with a new Albano buoy lane marking system and a new, state of the art start infrastructure.
Linz-Ottensheim, Austria has previously hosted the World Rowing Junior Championships in 1998 as well as the World Under 23 Regatta in 1990 and 2001.
The venues and dates of the 2007 Rowing World Cup series are:
Rowing World Cup I Linz - Ottensheim, Austria from 1 to 3 June 2007
Rowing World Cup II - Amsterdam, The Netherlands from 22 to 24 June 2007
Rowing World Cup III - Lucerne, Switzerland from 13 to 15 July 2007
The 2007 World Rowing Championships will take place in Munich, Germany.
Decisions regarding the venue of the first Rowing World Cup in 2008 will be taken at the next FISA meetings in May 2006. The second Rowing World Cup regatta in 2008 will be Poznan, Poland, as a test event for the 2009 World Rowing Championships, and the third venue will be Lucerne, Switzerland.