USRowing Announces New Structure for the 2021 Youth National Championships Due to Covid-19

As the spread of the Covid-19 virus continues to surge across the country, USRowing has been developing our plans and structure for the 2021 USRowing Youth National Championships scheduled for June 10-13 in Sarasota, Fla.

2021 USRowing Youth National Championships LogoAs always, our number one priority is to run a safe regatta, and Covid-19 adds a new layer of planning to help ensure the safety of our athletes, coaches, referees, volunteers, staff, supporters, and other attendees. Over the next several weeks, we will be rolling out a robust Covid-19 risk mitigation plan for this year's Youth National Championships, which we will share with all of you. With input from USRowing's medical commission, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, World Rowing, as well as CDC and WHO guidelines, our Covid-19 Working Group is developing these protocols in order to try to provide as safe of a competition environment as possible.

Earlier this week, we announced our tentative regatta schedule and "confirmation dates" for our 2021 USRowing-owned events. We still do not know whether we will be able to hold some of our championship events in 2021, but we wanted to announce those dates for planning purposes. We will confirm information approximately 60 days before the scheduled date of each regatta.

With Covid-19 infection rates rising and the vaccination rollout still a work in progress, it was important to develop a plan for this year's Youth National Championships that addressed the high probability that either no, or a limited number of, regional championships and qualification regattas would be able to take place. With this uncertainty, the 2021 USRowing Youth National Championships will have an open entry process that does not require qualification. This change is only being implemented for the 2021 regatta, with the intent to return to the qualification structure in 2022. We are still fine-tuning the details to ensure that all regions and their programs will have an opportunity to enter the events of their choosing. That process will be announced as part of the final entry packet that will be published on March 1, 2021.

In 2020, USRowing instituted a junior lightweight compliance protocol to "ensure that participating athletes are 'true' lightweights and do not lose weight in order to meet weight standards, focusing on the health and safety of youth rowers." This process required all lightweight athletes to get a medical examination and a signed clearance form from their primary care provider. It is our responsibility to NOT overburden the health care system during these unprecedented times. In addition, the process to weigh athletes requires close-contact with referees, volunteers, and other race officials and creates areas with the potential for large groups to congregate. Given these concerns and in an effort to control any risk of infection at our regatta sites, we will not be offering youth lightweight events at our races during 2021.

As an alternative to the lightweight events and in an effort to minimize travel to two separate national championship regattas, USRowing will offer a large list of age-based, Under 17 events at this year's Youth National Championships, and we will not be hosting a separate U17/U15 National Championship in 2021. The U17 races will be 2,000 meters and will be open to our younger athletes that meet the U17 age requirement. In the U17 men's and women's single sculls events, the top U15 finishers also will receive separate medals. Details will be announced on March 1 as part of the entry packet.

This year's race schedule will be adjusted to incorporate the additional racing opportunities. Each event at this year's Youth National Championships will have a time trial, an A&B semifinal and an A, B, C and D final where applicable with registration numbers. There will be no repechages at this year's regatta.

The following is a list of events that will be offered at the 2021 USRowing Youth National Championships:

Men's Youth 1x

Men's Youth 2x

Men's Youth 2-

Men's Youth 4+

Men's Youth 4x

Men's Youth 8+

Men's Youth Inclusive

Men's Youth PR1/PR2

Women's Youth 1x

Women's Youth 2x

Women's Youth 2-

Women's Youth 4+

Women's Youth 4x

Women's Youth 8+

Women's Youth Inclusive

Women's Youth PR1/PR2

Men's U17 1x

Men's U17 2x

Men's U17 2-

Men's U17 4+

Men's U17 4x

Men's U17 8+

Women's U17 1x

Women's U17 2x

Women's U17 2-

Women's U17 4+

Women's U17 4x

Women's U17 8+

As additional information becomes available, we will be updating the regatta's webpage on the USRowing website. We look forward to seeing you at a safe and socially smart regatta.