By Emily Goddard

Sarasota will host the 2017 World Rowing Championships September 2 - Sarasota in the United States and Plovdiv in Bulgaria have today been named as the hosts of the 2017 and 2018 World Rowing Championships respectively.

The International Rowing Federation (FISA) Congress in Chungju unanimously decided on the south-west Florida location and the 6,000-year-old Balkan city - which hosted last year's World Rowing Senior and Junior Championships, and was also awarded the host rights for the 2015 World Rowing Under-23 Championships.

Meanwhile, the second World Rowing Cup of 2015 was awarded to Varese in Italy and the third to Lucerne in Switzerland - which was also handed the second World Cup of 2016 along with the Rio 2016 Olympic qualification regatta.

The third and final World Cup of 2016 will be held in the Polish city of Poznań.

FISA had requested that bids for the first World Cups of 2015 and 2016 come from outside of Europe, however after reviewing the Sydney events in 2013 and 2014, it was decided that applications from within the continent will now be considered and the bidding reopened.

The host city announcement for these competitions will be made in December this year.

The Board meeting of rowing's world governing body also saw the 2016 and 2017 World Rowing Masters Regatta awarded to Copenhagen in Denmark and Bled in Slovenia, respectively, while the 2015 World Rowing Coastal Championships for Clubs will to Lima in Peru - the first World Rowing Championship event to be awarded to South America, and the first time that the World Rowing Coastal Championships will take place outside of Europe.

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