World Rowing Championships calendar

SATURDAY, Sept. 23

5 p.m. — Family Fun Day begins. It is an event aimed at letting people take in the natural beauty of the park. Food and merchandise vendors will be on site. Admission to the park on this day is free.

7 p.m. — The Opening Ceremony will be filled with music from the Jah Movement Reggae Band and the Sarasota Pops Orchestra, and entertainment will be provided by the Sarasota Ski-A-Rees waterskiing team, the Sarasota Cuban Ballet School, the Westcoast Black Theater Troupe and Circus Sarasota. Oh, and of course, fireworks! The evening will “tell the story of Florida’s Suncoast and how it became the amazing coastal and cultural community it is today.” The event is free to attend.

SUNDAY, Sept. 24

Competition runs from 10 a.m. to approximately 1:15 p.m. Highlight events include:

10:10 a.m. — The first race of the championships that features U.S. rowers is the Lightweight Men's Pair heats. Alex Twist and Jack Devlin will attempt to get the U.S. to the finals. The pair finished first in the event at the 2017 U.S. Senior and Para World Championship Trials in August.

12:11 p.m. — The Men's Four begins. These races feature the U.S.’s Ben Delaney, originally from Windermere, who lived in Sarasota for almost two years and rowed for the Sarasota Crew during that time (2012-2013). He will partner with Alex Richards, Bobby Moffitt and Ben Ruble. The U.S. did not qualify for the “A” final in this event at last year’s Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro, so Delaney and Co. have a challenge on their hands.

12:26 p.m. — The Women's Quad Sculls begin their heats. Germany won this event by more than a second at the 2017 European Championships in May. They are the team to watch as this event unfolds.

12:51 p.m. — All eyes will be on U.S. rower Michael Clougher in the Men's Single Scull heats. A relative newcomer to the international scene, Clougher, 24, has only competed in two races for the U.S., both this year, and won both, the latest coming at the 2017 U.S. Senior and Para World Championship Trials.

MONDAY, Sept. 25

Competition runs from 10 to 11:46 a.m. Highlight events include:

10 a.m. — The Men's Double Sculls event begins. These races will feature the U.S. pair of Inverness’ Ben Davison and John Graves of Cincinnati. Usually a single-scull rower, Davison has transitioned to the double in preparation for this race and has seen success, taking first place at the 2017 U.S. Senior and Para World Championship Trials alongside Graves, who has more experience.

10:31 a.m. — The Women's Double Sculls begins. Ellen Tomek and Meghan O’Leary being experience to the table, having raced together at the 2016 Olympic games, finishing sixth.

10:49 a.m. — In the Lightweight Men's Four, the U.S. squad will face stiff competition from Switzerland, which won the gold medal at the 2016 Olympics. Swiss rower Simon Niepmann is currently ranked ninth-best in the world, of rowers in all events, by World Rowing, and teammate Lucas Tramer is 10th.

11:21 a.m. — The Women's Single Scull heats begin. Felice Mueller finished fourth in the women’s pair in Rio in 2016, but has never raced in singles for the national team in international competition.

TUESDAY, Sept. 26

Competition runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Highlight events include:

10 a.m. — Para-rowing 1 Women's Single Sculls heats begin. This is your first chance to watch Para-athletes at the championships. The Para-rowing 1 designation is for athletes who row predominantly with their arms and shoulders. Hallie Smith will represent the United States in this event, which she won at the 2017 Senior and Para World Championship Trials.

12:10 p.m. — The Women's Four repechage begins. A repechage is a "second-chance" heat that allows teams that didn't qualify a chance to move into the finals.

1:41 p.m. — The Women's Eight is the marquee event for the United States, and here the team will race its heat. They have not lost this event in a major competition (either the Olympics or the World Rowing Championships) since 2006. This year, however, might be a challenge. Only two rowers, Lauren Schmetterling and Emily Regan, return from last year’s Olympic gold medal team, though keeping coxswain Katelin Guregian on board will help with stability.

1:51 p.m. — The men also get their Men's Eight heats underway. The U.S. took fourth in this event at the 2016 Rio games, but return even fewer rowers than their female counterparts, with Alex Karwoski the lone rower back for a chance at a medal.

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 27

Competition runs from 10 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Highlight events include:

10 a.m. — The Para-rowing 2 Mixed Double Sculls Repechage begins. The Para-rowing 2 classification is for rowers “who have trunk and arm movement, who are unable to use their legs to propel the sliding seat,” per USRowing.

10:34 a.m. — The Para-rowing 3 Mixed Four with Coxswain Repechage begins. Para-rowing 3 is a class for rowers with use of at least one leg, trunk or arm, as well as rowers with visual or intellectual impairments. The U.S. finished second in this event at both the 2014 and 2015 World Rowing Championships and at the 2016 Paralympic games in Rio de Janeiro.

11:30 a.m. — The day's Repechage races begin with the Men's Double Sculls.

12:16 p.m. — The Men's Single Scull had the most entrants of any event at the championships. 39 rowers. The event is so large, the championships had to add a quarterfinal race, this one, to whittle down the competition.

THURSDAY, Sept. 28

Competition runs from 10 a.m. to 1:08 p.m. Highlight events include:

10:48 a.m. — The Lightweight Men's Single Scull semifinal is the first semifinal of the championships. David Wyant, an in-park announcer for the 2017 World Rowing Championships, said that semifinal races are his favorites to watch, because in addition to the best boats being in front, there is competition among the fifth, sixth and seventh-fastest boats, etc., trying to sneak into the finals.

11:28 a.m. — Anders Weiss, one half of the U.S. Men's Pair alongside Michael Colella, finished 11th in this event at the 2016 Olympic games. In this semifinal, he has a chance to improve that performance and reach the final.

12:08 p.m. — The Lightweight Women's Double Sculls semifinal will see U.S. representatives Emily Schmeig and Michelle Sechser attempt to reach the final.

12:28 p.m. — In the Men's Four semifinals, former Sarasota Crew member Ben Delaney and his shell mates will attempt to make the final, putting themselves in position to medal.

FRIDAY, Sept. 29

Competition runs from 9:50 a.m. to 2:20 p.m. This is the day the championships begin to escalate. Every event has a chance to be thrilling, but highlight events include:

11:31 a.m. — In the Men's Single Scull semifinals, Michael Clougher is trying to be the first U.S. rower to medal in this event since John B. Kelly Jr. took bronze in 1956. 

1:06 p.m. — Jack Devlin and Alex Twist look to medal in the Lightweight Men's Pair. Both have previously medaled in the 2015 World Rowing Championships, but in the Lightweight Men's Eight. 

1:21 p.m. — Nick Trojan is the U.S. representative in the Lightweight Men's Single Scull final. He did not compete in the 2016 Rio games, but he finished fifth in the 2015 World Rowing Championships, so he’s capable of making it this far.

1:36 p.m. — The Lightweight Women's Single Scull final will hand out its gold. May Jones of the U.S. has a chance to medal. She finished fourth in this event at the 2016 World Rowing Championships, less than a second off Canadian Katherine Sauk’s the third-place time.

SATURDAY, Sept. 30

Competition runs from 8:42 a.m. to 1:10 p.m. Highlight events include:

9:50 a.m. — Gold will be decided in the Para-Rowing 2 Mixed Double Sculls final. In addition to Laura Goodkind and Isaac French trying to medal for the U.S., the Para-rowing races are intriguing for a different reason: They are the first para-rowing races to be 2000 meters long.

10:50 a.m. — The Lightweight Men's Double Sculls final is a chance for the U.S. to improve on its fifth-place finish in the 2016 Rio games. This time, they will turn to Christopher Lambert-Rodgers and Peter Schmidt to carry them to the medal stand.

11:20 a.m. — The Men's Four final is a chance for Ben Delaney to make Sarasota Crew proud by reaching the medal stand. He finished fourth in the quad sculls in the 2011 World Rowing Junior Championships. A slightly different event, but Delaney said the experience will help him this go-round.

1:15 p.m. — Crews of distinction follows the completion of the day’s races. The 2017 World Rowing Championships will be teaming up with the National Rowing Foundation and USRowing to honor 19 U.S. gold medal-winning “Crews of Distinction” spanning seven decades. Crews will be honored both on the water and on land, with the boats doing a row-by through the finish line. The crews being honored include the 1987 Men’s Eight and Lightweight Women’s Four, celebrating the 30th anniversary of their victories.

SUNDAY, Oct. 1

Competition runs from 8:42 to 11:42 a.m. Make sure you stay to the end. Highlight events include:

9 a.m. — Row for the Cure Erg-a-thon allows fans a try at rowing on an ERG, or a stationary rowing machine. For every meter rowed on the machines, partners of the World Rowing Championships will donate money to breast cancer research.

10:12 a.m. — The Women's Four final is likely to feature the U.S. team trying to hold off Australia, which has been the team to beat at smaller competitions earlier this year.

10:57 a..m. — The Women's Single Scull final is likely to feature American Felice Mueller. She will have lots of competition, including Jingli Duan of China, European Champion Victoria Thornley of Great Britain and 2017 World Cup gold medalist Jeannine Gmelin of Switzerland.

11:27 a.m. — Even if Michael Clougher does not qualify for the Men's Single Scull final, the race will be a spectacle, and a chance to watch New Zealand’s Robert Manson, who set a world-record time (6:30.74) in this event at the World Rowing Cup II in Poznan, Poland on June 18. He beat the previous record, held by fellow New Zealander Mahe Drysdale, by three seconds.

11:42 a.m. — Will the 11-year winning streak stop for the U.S. in the Women's Eight? The U.S. Women’s Eight is the class of not just their own event, but all of rowing. The streak is one of the most dominant in the history of sports.

Noon — The Closing Ceremony begins following the Women's Eight Race.