Adaptive rowing has grown steadily since its inception at the World Rowing Championships in 2002 and a record 26 countries have entered. This signifies a big jump from 2010 when 19 countries raced and is a sign of the growth of the adaptive division of the sport. Bled will be the main qualification regatta for the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.

The largest single event is the arms, shoulders men’s single sculls (ASM1x) with 17 entries. Leading the way in the men’s single is Great Britain’s Tom Aggar. Aggar has set the standard in adaptive rowing and he is not only the World and Paralympic Champion of the single, he is also the World Best Time holder and has broken his own World Best Time more than once. Aggar’s complete dominance means that the rest of the competition will be left to fight for the lesser medals.

Andrii Kryvchun of Ukraine could be the closest rival for Aggar. Kryvchun finished second last year and is back again this year for another shot at the medals. Bronze medallist in 2010, Daniel McBride of New Zealand has been working through injuries and may not be able to repeat last year’s performance.

The arms, shoulders women’s single sculls (ASW1x) has the very talented Nathalie Benoit, 31, of France as the hot favourite. Benoit comes to Bled as the reigning World Champion which followed on from her silver medal the previous year. Benoit is likely to add to her collection in 2011. But she will face serious competition from Alla Lysenko (UKR), World Champion in 2009, Liudmila Vauchok of Belarus, two-time world medallist and Paralympic silver medallist, and Claudia Santos of Brazil who was World Champion in 2007 and won silver at the world champs last year.

In the trunk, arms mixed double sculls (TAMix2x), a male and a female athlete team up using their arms as well as the swing of their body to propel the boat. Dmytro Ivanov and Iryna Kyrychenko of Ukraine will be hoping to defend their 2010 World Champion title. Their toughest competition is likely to come from France and Australia.

In the Australian boat Kathryn Ross has come back together with her 2008 Paralympic Games partner, John MacLean. These two talented athletes could give Ukraine a good run for their money. Stephane Tartieu and Perle Bouge of France could well be hot medal contenders. They finished with silver last year and are back to not only qualify for the Paralympic Games, but also win a medal.

The legs, trunk, arms mixed coxed four (LTAMix4+) saw a fierce rivalry develop between Canada and Great Britain last year. This will continue at Bled with Canada (Theriault, Blair, Nolan, Montgomery) aiming to retain their World Champion status. The event has attracted a record 16 countries (up from nine in 2010) so there is every chance that a new country could come out of the woodwork and surprise the British and Canadians.

The only event for intellectually disabled rowers is the intellectually disabled mixed coxed four (IDMix4+). This is the only adaptive event which is not on the Paralympic programme. This year, this event has attracted four countries with the standout crew likely to be Hong Kong China. The crew of Liu, Lam, Szeto, Tsui and coxswain Chan have a World Championship title to defend.

Adaptive rowers race over a 1000m distance and at Lake Bled they will begin in the starting blocks and race up to the 1000m mark on the standard 2000m course. This set up is necessary due to the natural layout of Lake Bled.

Adaptive racing starts on Monday 29 August with the heats. Adaptive Finals will begin on 1 September and will be spread out over the following three days until 4 September.