2021 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals Get Underway

Following the cancellation of the 2020 event, the second ever World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals began today in Oeiras, Portugal. Across the three days of racing, nearly 200 rowers are representing 25 countries in nine boat classes.

The first round of the competition is run as a time trial with all boats racing for time. Second round elimination repechages are then used in order to bring the number of crews in the medal competition in each boat class down to eight. Quarter finals, semifinals and finals will be raced on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 September.

In the mixed Quads, Spain was the fastest in the time trial, keen to improve on their second-place finish at the 2019 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals. The USA was just seven seconds slower, posting a time of 2:34.17, only 0.6 seconds ahead of France and suggesting we should expect close racing in the later rounds.

Speaking after the race, USA’s Christine Cavallo, who is a seasoned “traditional rower”, having raced at Senior, U23 and Junior World Rowing Championships, said:

“This is obviously a new discipline of rowing, and it takes a lot of composure and flexibility to handle when things don’t go according to plan. I can’t tell if it is because this is the first senior world championship of any kind since 2019, or if this is simply how coastal rowing is all the time, but every competitor is in such good spirits and everyone simply wants to race. It feels happy and pure and it’s been a blast so far. I feel like a novice all over again!”

Racing was also close in the time trials for the mixed doubles. With Spain having a clear win in 2:37.55, the next three boats (France, Tunisia and Greece) all posted times less than a second apart. The French combination features Edwige Alfred who won silver in this boat class in 2019.

The Coastal Solo had the largest entries with 25 entries in the CM1x, and 15 in the CW1x. The line-ups included experienced beach sprint athletes and also familiar names from flat-water rowing. Christopher Bak of the USA was the fastest in the CM1x time trial posting a time of 2:38.45, which was just over five seconds faster than Kjetil Borch, who won an Olympic silver medal in Tokyo just a few months ago. Just over half a second behind Borch was Mohamed Taieb of Tunisia, who said:

“I really enjoyed the beach sprint! The challenge was tough for me! It is not regular Olympic Rowing but there are some tips and hints that can help to navigate through and you need to row with the wave! It’s like a mixture between jogging and rowing ! It has its different genre of pain, this sport! The atmosphere is quite cool for the rowers and for the spectators alike! I think you don’t need to be a professional to enjoy watching races or to understand the rules.”

Also competing in the CM1x is Sweden’s Eskil Borgh, who is new to coastal rowing, but already considering it’s possibilities:

“I really enjoy the first day! The beach is very nice and perfect for coastal rowing! It’s my first time trying the Beach Sprint format, so it’s been exciting training yesterday, and racing today. I learned a lot and I still think I improve every session! The sport of coastal rowing is quite young, especially the Beach Sprint format, so I believe there is a lot of aspects that can be improved and developed further, both as how we athletes prepare and train for this event, as well as the material. For example; how long the oars should be, and even if the blades should be the same as in flat water rowing? Overall a fun and interesting type of racing format, and for me, a fun way to start up the coming season with!”

Sid Ali Boudina, ALG, CM1x, is also new to coastal rowing. He pulls on strengths from all aspects of sport:

“I’m very pleased to take part in this fantastic competition, in this beautiful location, the conditions are perfect, the organization is excellent. This is my first experience in a Beach sprint event, I was very excited to be here. I have a long experience in classic rowing, the beach sprint is very different, it’s an intense and very exciting competition where the rower must have different skills, be a good sprinter, agile, have a good orientation on the water, there are a lot of details that must be taken into consideration, I really enjoy. I have the 16th Time in the CM1X, tomorrow I’ll be in the time trial round 2, I and my coach tried to identify the areas that must be improved, hopefully, everything will go well.”

 Meanwhile, France’s Maya Cornut was the fastest in the CW1x. Cornut is a top coastal rower but also an established flat water rower, having won bronze in the women’s pair at World Rowing Cup I earlier this season.

“I am very happy to be participating in the Beach Sprint Finals this weekend. My first race was really good. I can’t wait to find sensations on Sunday for the rest. Tomorrow, I will be at the venue to support the French team. The infrastructures and the organisation of the World Rowing team are top to have a great time.”

Junior Boat Classes have been included for the first time at this year’s Beach Sprint Finals and they raced their time trials in the afternoon session today.

Portugal’s Afonso Santos had a comfortable win in the CJM1x with Zuzanna of France leading the way in the CJW1x. There was also an opportunity for junior rowers to race in the Coastal Double. The USA and France finished with less than half a second between them in the JM2x. Meanwhile, there was some drama in the JW2x time trial when the Japanese Double collided with a TV Boat. The Umpire made the decision to let the crew re-row at the end of the time trial to get a clear run on the course.

The first day of racing finished with elimination races in the CMix4+ and CMix2x where it came down to the final beach sprint and split-second margins in many of the races to decide which boat progressed.

Racing restarts tomorrow morning with the elimination races in the CM1x and CW1x between 10:00 and 11:40.