LEN Press Release: 19TH EUROPEAN SHORT COURSE SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS IN COPENHAGEN
The European Short Course Swimming Championships in Copenhagen on December 13-17, 2017 will be among the biggest sports events and – following the 2013 European Short Course Swimming Championships held in Herning – the second international swimming championships ever organised in Denmark
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44 LEN Member Federations to participate
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Numerous Olympic, World and European champions competing
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Prize money, bonus for World and European records and financial support
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Media accreditation deadline on November 20, 2017.
After catching a glimpse of the competition venue it becomes obvious that the Royal Arena will provide a perfect backdrop for the European swimming élite. By the way, it will be the first-ever sport event in the new multi-purpose arena located in Copenhagen’s Oerestad district.
For the second time in the history of Short Course Europeans the event will be carried out over a period of five days. The competitions start on Wednesday, December 13, the last of altogether 40 events will be held on Sunday, December 17.
44 out of 52 LEN Member Federations have already announced their participation. The first nominations indicate that the meet will be another outstanding celebration of swimming, featuring the top stars of the leading continent of the aquatic world. Numerous Olympic as well as World and European champions will be among the top athletes competing in Copenhagen.
To name a few, Adam Peaty of Great Britain will lead a strong British team, the Netherlands will be represented by their top swimmers, including Ranomi Kromowidjojo. Spain’s Mireia Belmonte, Germany’s Marco Koch as well as Olympic champion Sarah Sjoestroem from Sweden, are among the top starters. Last but not least Hungary’s superstars Katinka Hosszu and Laszlo Cseh have already confirmed their participation.
Host Denmark with a competitive team of 37 swimmers
And let’s not forget – in front of a home crowd – the team of the Danish hosts will compete at full strength in order to underline their top position in European swimming. In this context it needs to be mentioned that at the previous 18 European short course editions the Danish team claimed a total of 83 medals (23 Gold, 34 Silver, 26 Bronze). At the the last European and World Championships (long-course) as well as at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro swimmers from Denmark secured altogether ten medals. Since 29-year-old Jeanette Ottesen, who won gold at the 2016 World Short Course Championships in the 50m butterfly event, will miss the title championships as she expects the birth of her first child at the end of December, her compatriots Pernille Blume, Rikke Moeller Pedersen and Viktor B. Bromer will be aiming to follow in her footsteps.
Brand new venue: Royal Arena Copenhagen – Tickets sold to fans from 28 nations
A temporary swimming pool is going to be constructed at the brand new Royal Arena that boasts a seating capacity of up to 16,000 spectators during a concert. Due to the raised floor 6,500 spectators can be seated at the Short Course Championships. During the Europeans additional facilities like the warm-up pool and a spacious press centre will be set up as well. The first sports event in the new arena – it is only 12 minutes by underground to the city centre – was organised on February 3, 2017. As for the event, more than 19.000 tickets have been sold until today and foreign fans representing 28 nations have also had their shares of the tickets purchasing.
As most of the LEN Member Federations have already carried out or will have their national championships within the next few weeks, all starters will soon be announced. Deadline for the final entries is December 3, 2017.
Prize money, bonus for World and European records and financial support
For the first time in its history, LEN offers record-bonuses, individual World Records are worth 10,000 Euros while the European Records pay 5,000 Euros. Additionally the European Federation will distribute 220,000 Euros for the top 12 performances among the men and women respectively according to the FINA points table as well as financial assistance to all participating LEN Member Federations. The total amount of the financial support for athletes and federations at the 2017 LEN European Short Course Swimming Championships amounts approximately 500,000 Euros.
The Short Course Europeans will be organised by LEN (European Swimming Federation) and the Danish Swimming Federation in co-operation with their partners Sport Event Denmark and the City of Copenhagen.
Further information at: euroswim2017.com and www.len.eu or via the Facebook account:
Further information on the Royal Arena at: https://www.royalarena.dk/en
Tickets for the ten sessions are available HERE
Media accreditation: Journalists interested in covering the event are kindly requested to register online at the LEN website (www.len.eu) and click on the relevant link (here). Fill in the online form and upload a portrait photo (jpg). Deadlinefor media accreditation is November 20, 2017.
The official media hotel will be the Scandic Sluseholmen, 5 km (10 minutes by car) from the Royal Arena. Reservation: click here