Thomas Konietzko, President of the German Canoe Association (DKV), Brandenburg’s lady Mayor Dietlind Tiemann, as well as head of the Brandenburg Organisation Committee, Henry Schiffer yesterday welcomed all 64 nations to the city and the Championships. With a total of more than 650 athletes, the first training units have already trained on Lake Beetzsee.

Thomas Konietzko is especially proud as the record of 62 nations of the last Junior Championships in Moscow was reached when two more nations registered for Brandenburg.

Preparations have gone pretty smoothly so far”, says Schiffer. “I am very happy with the general conditions, infrastructure and racing course. The new finishing tower, the broadened racing course and the new big video wall make the site even more attractive. We did have some problems with foreign athletes who missed their flights etc. Some even stranded at Basel so we had to organise a transport from there to Brandenburg. But they have all arrived now so everything is set and we can get started.

Lady mayor Dietlind Tiemann was especially proud of the atmosphere at the event. Sports events are of a special importance for us here at Brandenburg, so we are especially happy to have such a big international event in our city” she said. We have invested a lot in the regatta site and this is paying off now. And during these days it’s especially nice to see all these youngsters in the city centre.”

The German team just spent two weeks at the Kienbaum training camp and at the Brandenburg racing preparing the juniors for the event. “All 23 athletes are in good shape and cannot wait for the event to start” says Detlef Hummelt, German national Juniors trainer. “Our goal is to reach all the finals and to win at least one medal in each discipline”. According to Hummelt, Sophie Hammer and Virginia Naujork from Berlin as well as Tom Liebscher from Dresden and Max Rendschmidt from Rheidt have best chances for winning medals in the kayak disciplines, and Michael Müller from Magdeburg in the Canoe Single races. Germany will take part in 22 of 23 racing events and miss out only on the C2 ladies races.

“Other international teams have also gotten stronger recently – the German and Hungarian teams are no longer the only top favorites” Konietzko says. This is especially obvious in the Juniors events.

Expectations are no less high in the Hungarian team – traditionally one of the top favourite nations, Hungarian juniors have arrived with a total of 26 athletes – 17 boys and 9 girls and take part in all 23 racing events. According to team leader Robert Weisz they are hoping for a minimum of 5 gold medals. One of the best athletes in his team is 17-year old Sàndor Totka who won a gold medal at the Singapore Olympic Youth Games in 2010 and will also take part in the Senior World Championships at Szeged later this year.

The official opening ceremony took place yesterday evening at 7.00 p.m., and heats started this morning at 09.00 a.m. For more information and live results streaming, visit www.canoe-brandenburg.de.