Ten names to watch out for at the 2023 World Rowing Coastal Championships

Less than a week on from hosting the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals, the course in Barletta has been adjusted and the stage is now set ready for the 2023 World Rowing Coastal Championships.

The World Rowing Coastal Championships are open only to club crews, who are nominated by their member federations. Crews will race 4km or 6km around a course of buoys and turning markers in the open sea off the Adriatic Coast.

With racing scheduled to start at 12:30 CET on Friday 6 October, we’ve scanned through the entries to see which boats might be worth keeping an eye on, subject to entries being confirmed.

Charles Cousins – Mumbles Amateur RC (GBR) – CM1x

2012 Olympian and double World Championship medallist Charles Cousins has moved his focus to coastal rowing in recent years and will race in both the men’s solo (CM1x), and mixed double (CMix2x), alongside Clare Jamison. Cousins took bronze in the men’s solo at the recent European Rowing Coastal Championships so will be hoping to achieve at least that here on the World stage.

Diana Dymchenko – Baku RC (AZE) – CW1x

It was silver in the CW1x for Dymchenko last year in Wales and in 2021 in Portugal, but can she go one better this year and top the podium again? She won gold in this boat class at the Europeans last month so is certainly on track, and she will come up against many of the same competitors. At the Europeans, Dymchenko comfortably beat Jessica Berrra of Endaika Arraun Elkartea (France), who took gold in Wales last year, so it will be interesting to see the finish order in Barletta.

Martino Goretti – Canottieri Padova (ITA) – CM2x

Goretti is a double Olympian and five-time World Champion in flat water lightweight boat classes so come’s with plenty of racing experience, however, he’s relatively new to coastal rowing and has been known to doubt the discipline. He’ll be partnered in the CM2x by Simone Martini, who won silver in this boat class in 2021, but narrowly missed out on a medal in the men’s solo at the European Championships last month, so Martini will bring the coastal experience to the boat.

Jackie Kiddle – New Zealand Rowing (NZL) – CMix2x, CW4x+

It has been a busy few weeks for Kiddle. She recently qualified the lightweight women’s double sculls for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and, just last weekend, won gold in the mixed double at the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals with her partner, Matt Dunham (who will also race this weekend). The duo will come together again to race the endurance format, hoping for another medal. Kiddle will also race in a women’s coxed quad hoping to match, or even improve on the silver medal that New Zealand won in Wales last year. In that crew, she’ll be joined by Laura McKenzie of Great Britain, who she beat in the Final A of the Beach Sprints in the mixed double.

Katharina & Magdalena Lobnig – Austrian Rowing Team (AUT) – CW2x

The Lobnig sisters are two very familiar names from flat water rowing, and they’ve raced together several times before, but we’ve not seen them racing on the sea before! They will come to Barletta to race in the women’s double sculls (CW2x). Last year, they finished fourth in the women’s double sculls at the World Rowing Championships,  Magdalena won bronze in the women’s single sculls at the Tokyo Olympic Games and, more recently, won the B final of that boat class at the World Rowing Championships.

Daire Lynch – Clonmel RC (IRL) – CM4x+

Another rower who comes to Barletta  fresh from Olympic qualification, and now trying coastal rowing. Lynch qualified the men’s double sculls for Ireland in Belgrade a few weeks ago and won a World Championship bronze with Philip Doyle. Here in Barletta, Lynch will race in a composite men’s quad (CM4x+) with plenty of other talent on board.

Adrian Miramon Quiroga – Wicklow Rowing Club (IRL) – CM1x

After winning gold for Spain in the men’s solo at at last weekend’s Beach Sprint Finals, Miramon Quiroga said “I am very happy as I am the first man to win two gold medals in endurance and two gold medals in beach sprints.” So, is he going to be looking to make it a third gold in the endurance this weekend? He won gold at the European Coastal Championships a few weeks ago, so is certainly on form. He will represent Ireland’s Wicklow Rowing Club in the Coastal Championships.  

Mitchel Steenman – Hollandia RC (NED) – CM1x, CM2x

It has been a few years since we saw the Dutch triple Olympian race internationally so it is great to have Steenman racing in Barletta and giving coastal rowing a go. His last international race was the 2019 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals where he won bronze in the mixed double sculls with Janneke Van Der Meulen, and he has stacks of flat-water international experience, dating back to to the 2001 World Rowing Junior Championships. In Barletta this year, Steenman will race both the men’s solo, and the men’s double scull (alongside Pedro Mocozinho).

Joseph Sullivan – New Zealand Rowing (NZL) – CM2x, CM4x+

He’s an Olympic gold medallist from London 2012 and won five consecutive World Championship titles in the years proceeding that. In 2014, Sullivan announced that he was retiring from rowing, yet here he is in Barletta! He has already raced at the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals where he was knocked out by the eventual silver medal winner, Giovanni Ficarra of Italy. It is fantastic that coastal rowing is encouraging people to return to the sport, and we’re excited to see Sullivan race in both the men’s double (with Matthew Dunham) and also an all-star crew in the men’s quadruple sculls.

Janneke van der Meulen – Hollandia RC (NED) – CW2x, CW4x+

Perhaps still on a high after winning gold at the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals just a few days ago, van der Meulen is now a well-established name in the coastal rowing scene. At the European level last month, van der Meulen missed out on gold in the beach sprint format  of the women’s solo by only 0.18 seconds, yet only finished 14th in the endurance event. Here in Barletta, she will race in the women’s coxed quad and also the women’s double sculls, in which her and her doubles partner, Karien Robbers have a World Championship title to defend.

Racing at the 2023 World Rowing Coastal Championships will start on Friday 6 October with heats beginning at 12:30 CET.