Rowers to watch: 2022 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals

As the season draws to a close, the top international Beach Sprint Rowing event has yet to take place. The 2022 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals will kick off this coming Friday, 14 October, in Pembrokeshire, Great Britain. The nine boat classes have attracted more than 250 competitors from 24 nations, the largest field since the inaugural World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals in 2019.

Experienced coastal rowers, and classic rowers alike are keen to test their skills in what is rowing’s fastest growing discipline. Here are our rowers to watch:

Coastal Men’s Solo (CM1x)

The men’s solo has an impressive list of entries with 25 athletes competing. The most experienced beach sprint athlete is Giovanni Ficarra of Italy. Ficarra is the reigning World Rowing Beach Sprint Champion from 2021 and was just crowned World Champion in the Lightweight Men’s Pair a month ago in Czech Republic. He will be the heavy favourite – but will have hot competition.

A new name in coastal rowing, but no stranger to flat water rowing, is Karl Schulze of Germany. Two time Olympic Champion, and four time World Rowing Championships medallist, he is one to key your eyes on.  Watch out for seasoned coastal rowers such as Aubrey Oldham of Canada and Dennis Gustavsson of Sweden – who was crowned World Rowing Coastal Champion last week in the Men’s Double. And don’t forget about a few other top flat-water rowers like Maciej Zawojski from Poland and Ben Mason of New Zealand.

Coastal Women’s Solo (CW1x)

There are 20 athletes in the women’s solo. There are two big names making their debut in the Beach Sprint format: Helen Glover of Great Britain and Emma Twigg of New Zealand. Glover, a two-time Olympic Champion, hasn’t raced internationally since the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games but has decided to give coastal rowing a go. Twigg, the 2020 Olympic Champion in the Women’s Single Sculls, won a silver medal last week at the World Rowing Coastal Championships in the Coastal Women’s Coxed Quad and will be looking for more.

The two Olympians will face tough competition from experienced coastal, and international rowers. Poland’s Agnieszka Kobus-Zawojska and Ireland’s Monika Dukarska are Tokyo Olympians and competed last year in Portugal. And watch out for Teresa Diaz Moreno of Spain, who just won gold at the Coastal Championships last week in the Coastal Women’s Coxed Quadruple Sculls, as well as Edwige Alfred of France. Alfred is a top coastal rower who will compete in the shorter sprint distance in Pembrokeshire.

Coastal Mixed Double (CMix2x)

The Mixed Double Sculls always provide great entertainment as well as the opportunity for male and female athletes to compete together. There are 19 crews entered this year including many returning competitors from the 2021 event. The reigning World Champions, Ander Martin and Esther Briz Zamorano of Spain are back. They just repeated as World Rowing Coastal Champions a week ago, and will be looking to go back-to-back – as they’ve done last year in Oeiras.

The 2021 silver medallists in this boat class, Edwige Alfred and Ludovic Dubuis, will be looking to return to the podium as well. And don’t rule out a top performance from Poland – the Zawojski couple bring plenty of Olympic strength to the water, as will the Kiwi duo of Jackie Kiddle and Matthew Dunham. The event also sees the return of London 2012 Olympian and 2014 World silver medallist Charles Cousins. Cousins stepped away from the GB Rowing Team in 2015 but is coming out of retirement to race in the Coastal Mixed Double Sculls with Clare Jamison.

Coastal Mixed Coxed Quad (CMix4x+)

The Coastal Mixed Coxed Quad sees an impressive 12 entries and will provide for some thrilling racing from these fast boats. The reigning World Rowing Beach Sprint Champions are back – Spain’s Gomez Cotilla, Diaz Moreno, Miguel Gomez, and cox Mendez Tome are joined by Javier Madrid Balebona. Diaz Moreno, Miguel Gomez, and cox Mendez Tome finished first in the CW4x+ at last weekend’s World Rowing Coastal Championships, and Gomez Cotilla finished second in the Men’s Solo.

It will be interesting how the very accomplished New Zealand boat can take on the Beach Sprints, each of them having won many medals and titles in classic rowing. Twigg, Kiddle, and cox Dunham won silver in the CW4x+ last weekend, and Dunham also won bronze in the Men’s Solo. They will be joined by Brook Robertson and Ben Mason. Mason is an experienced coastal rower, having done a 1000km coastal row in New Zealand in 2021.

Under 19 Coastal Men’s Solo (CJM1x)

With 15 entries, this boat class has nearly doubled from the eight that contested it last year. Brian O’Leary of the USA is the sole returning competitor in the Under 19 Coastal Men’s Solo this year, so he will be one name to watch. Canadian Denis Ovdiyenko won the Canadian trials – so did Evan Cailhau of France and James Cox of Great Britain.

Under 19 Coastal Women’s Solo (CJW1x)

The name to watch here will no doubt be Tunisia’s Hela Belhaje Mohamed. The 2021 World Rowing Beach Sprint Champion in the Under 19 Coastal Women’s Solo is also World Rowing’s March 2022 Rower of the Month. She will face Britt Wotovich of the USA, who competed in this boat class last year, and Maxence Dupuis of France, who competed in the Under 19 Coastal Women’s Double.

Under 19 Coastal Men’s Double (CJM2x)

There will be 13 entries in this boat class – we’re curious to see what the Dutch duo of Beer Florijn and Owen Knowles can do, facing the usual coastal powerhouses of Spain, France and Italy. Beer Florijn comes from a huge rowing family – his sister Karolien and his brother Finn both competed at the World Rowing Championships three weeks ago, with the former being crowned World Rowing Champion in the Women’s Single Sculls.

Under 19 Coastal Women’s Double (CJW2x)

The entries in this boat class have more than doubled from last year, with a total of 13 entries. The boat to watch will be Japan – Sasa Yatsuzuka and Miyuki Yamashita were silver medallists in this boat class last year, and with the absence of the reigning champions from Sweden, they will have to be considered favourites.

Under 19 Coastal Mixed Double Sculls (CJMix2x)

Both Tunisia and the United States were on the podium last year – and they are also all doubling up in solos. They could be in contention for medals – as will be the Brits, on home soil. Watch out too for the Quaranta siblings of Italy, and the crew from France, with reigning World Under 19 Champion Aurore Combes returning with a new partner.

Find the full entry list for the 2022 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals here.

Racing kicks off on 14 October at 8:20 BST (9:20 CET).

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