Great Britain leads the way as rowing world championships start qualification for Rio 2016 Games
British team earns most places in Olympic events and is only one to qualify boats in all Paralympic events
At the Olympic Games there will be eight men's events and six women's events (Getty Images/Ezra Shaw)
The International Rowing Federation has confirmed the first qualifiers for the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Following the 2015 World Rowing Championships on Lake Aiguebelette, France, 129 boats from 32 nations had won places at next year’s Olympic Games. In the Paralympic classes, 32 boats from 16 countries earned slots in Rio.
Great Britain finished the world championships on top, having qualified boats in 12 of the 14 Olympic events and in all four Paralympic events. The USA qualified 10 boats in the Olympic events, while Germany and New Zealand each earned nine places.
A total of 215 boats (121 male, 94 female) and 550 athletes (331 male, 219 female) will line up in the Rio 2016 rowing regatta. The next chances to earn berths in Brazil will come in continental qualification regattas (in Asia/Oceania, Africa, the Americas and Europe) throughout the coming months and a Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in May 2016.
Paralympic rowers will get their next chance to book a place in Rio at the Paralympic Qualification Regatta in April 2016.
Click here to see the full list of rowing qualifiers for Rio 2016.
Follow the race to qualify for the Olympic Games across all sports
Follow the race to qualify for the Paralympic Games across all sports
