Henley Royal Regatta has unexpectedly announced the creation of a new event for 2020 for university student women's eights, along with the promise of more new events to come in 2021.

Such announcements are usually made at its December Stewards' meeting, but the timing coincides with Monday's confirmation that Wokingham Borough Council has granted the organisation an extension to move from five to six days from 2020 onwards, despite local opposition.

Although the licence has been granted, the Regatta said in a press release on Tuesday evening that "there is considerable planning work to do to make six days a reality and therefore it is likely that the Regatta schedule will not be extended before 2021."

Working with Henley Women's Regatta, the Royal Regatta has recently introduced new events to encourage and develop high-quality women's rowing.

Seven out of the 23 current events are for women, three having been created in 2017, but only the junior women's quads, which have strengthened GB junior sculling, are not open to senior international crews.