Wind, waves and speed in Gdansk for the 2024 European Rowing Coastal and Beach Sprint Championships' finals

The 2024 European Rowing Coastal and Beach Sprint Championships wrapped up this past weekend in Gdansk, Poland. Spain topped the Beach Sprint medal table, with 2 golds and a silver. Their golds came in the men’s solo and under 19 women’s solo, with their silver in the under 19 mixed double. Italy matched Spain’s gold with wins in the Under 19 men’s solo and Under 19 Mixed Double, and added two bronze medals to their tally. Seven nations in total picked up beach sprint medals.

Miramon Quiroga remains the “King of the Beach”

The reigning World Champion in the men’s solo, Adrian Miramon Quiroga, left no doubt that he was still the man to beat in that boat class. In Gdansk, Miramon won yet another title – a European Rowing title this time – to add to his already impressive collection. And the Spaniard did it in style – a fast sprinter, Miramon is also excelling at navigation and turning quickly around the buoys. A great recipe for success, that led him to a gold medal in Poland, ahead of Gonçalo Delgado of Portugal and Zygimantas Galisanskis of LIthuania – a regular on the coastal rowing scene.

Minichmayr, against all odds

Tabea Minichmayr of Austria might not be the most famous name on the rowing scene. Her last performance on the international scene was a Final D at the 2022 World Rowing Championships. But in Beach Sprint Rowing, anything can happen  – and while all eyes were on the reigning World Champion, Janneke van der Meulen of the Netherlands, or Great Britain’s Clare Jamison, it was Minichmayr that made the best out of the tricky conditions on the water to grab a surprising gold. A great sign for Austria, where Coastal rowing has been gaining lots of traction over the last few years.

A buzzer-beater for Lithuania

The Mixed Double Sculls always offers great competition, and often sprints to the buzzer. That’s exactly what the audience in Gdansk could cheer on for the Final A, between Dominykas Jancionis and Martyna Kazlauskaite of Lithuania, and Laura Mackenzie and Sam Scrimgeour of Great Britain. The race had everything – fast start, quick turns, tricky navigation, and a sprint to the line, where Lithuania got the gold medal of Great Britain with less than a second separating them on the buzzer. On the podium was Silivia Tripi and Federico Ceccarino of Italy, who beat former World Champion of Spain Ander Martin and Lola Garcia Juan by nearly 17 seconds.

Dymchenko does it again, Gustavsson finally gets it

Before the Beach Sprint finals on sunday, Gdansk saw the Endurance finals take place on Friday. Six nations picked up coastal medals, with Sweden topping the table. Denis Gustavsson and Eskil Borgh shared the podium, picking up gold and bronze in the MCM1x respectively. Diana Dymchenko of Azerbaijan continues to grow her coastal medal collection, adding gold from the MCW1x, in a race that she won by more than 30 seconds ahead of Monika Dukarska of Ireland and Eeva Karppinen of Finland. Karppinen picked up two medals – a bronze in the MCW1x, and a silver in the MCMix2x with partner Joel Naukkarinen.

These athletes will have another opportunity to win medals at the 2024 World Rowing Coastal Championships, and the 2024 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals, which will be held in Genoa, Italy, from 6-8 September, and 13-15 September.