Single day tickets for World Rowing Championships in Sarasota now on sale

When she was 10 years old in 1992 growing up in Virginia, Lindsay Shoop knew little about rowing.

She was moved, however, by the story of a Canadian rower, Silken Laumann, who suffered a serious leg injury in a rowing accident that year, then overcame five surgeries to win a bronze medal at the Olympics in the single scull competition.

That story stuck with her even though she didn't start rowing herself until 10 years later when she was a junior at the University of Virginia. Eventually, Shoop was part of the gold medal-winning USA women's eight squad in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics,

On Friday, Shoop stood at a podium at The Mall at University Town Center, telling those in attendance they would make a good choice by attending the 2017 World Rowing Championships from Sept. 24 through Oct. 1 at Nathan Benderson Park in Sarasota.

"If you don't know anything about rowing, it's OK," said Shoop, who is now an assistant rowing coach at the University of Miami while she pursues her master's degree. "I didn't."

The event on Friday was for the 2017 World Rowing Championships committee to announce that single day tickets are now on sale for the event. Also, a partnership between the 2017 World Rowing Championships and The Mall at University Town Center was announced. UTC will sell tickets at its customer service desk. Tickets also may be purchased at wrch2017.com.

"In 114 days, we will welcome the world," said 2017 World Rowing Championships Executive Director Meredith Scerba. "Our goal of bringing 40,000 visitors to the area is looking more realistic now."

The Mall at UTC General Manager Jeramy Burkinshaw said the customer service booth will be a premier location to offer tickets and he said it is exciting for the mall to partner with their "neighbor."

Shoop said she was amazed how different it was competing at a huge event like the Olympics. "There were tens of thousands of people screaming," she said. "I felt like I could do anything. Rowing doesn't have any of that until you show up at the Worlds or the Olympics.

"People are yelling, 'USA, USA.' You think, these people really do know what I was doing (during training). These World Championships give us the opportunity to fill the grandstands with Americans."