Rowers to Watch: 2024 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals

With the sporting world having celebrated a superb summer at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, attention now turns to Los Angeles 2028. And with beach sprints set to make their Olympic debut in four years’ time, the 2024 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals has attracted a huge and quality entry from 51 nations. Coastal champions will clash with Olympic champions in a test of speed and boatmanship on the waves of Genoa. Here are the rowers to watch.

Coastal Men’s Solo (CM1x)

44 entries

A huge entry in the coastal men’s solo is packed with quality, headlined by reigning champion Adrian Miramon Quiroga of Spain. Miramon beat Giovanni Ficarra for the 2023 title, and both are back for another tilt at gold. Ficarra won gold back in 2021, and Miramon claimed his first title back in 2019, at the inaugural World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals. They face a line-up including the 2022 Beach Sprint Champion, Christopher Bak of the USA, as well as Paris 2024 Olympians Lennart van Lierop (Netherlands), Mihai Chiruta (Romania) and Ahmed Abdulla (Sudan). Van Lierop won gold in the men’s quadruple sculls in Paris, adding to his other titles including the 2023 European Rowing Championships in the men’s single sculls, and it will be fascinating to see how he fares on coastal waters.

Other flatwater rowers taking to the waves include Sweden’s Eskil Borgh and Czechia’s Jan Fleissner, along with 2024 Versa Challenge champion Joel Naukkarinen of Finland. But don’t count out the experienced coastal specialists like Egypt’s Ali Hassan, Canada’s Aubrey Oldham, and Lithuania’s  Zygimantas Galisanskis, who was fourth last year.

Coastal Women’s Solo (CW1x)

37 entries

There is a full house of returning medallists in the coastal women’s solo in Genoa: reigning champion Janneke van der Meulen (Netherlands), silver medallist Elodie Ravera Scaramozzino (France), and bronze medallist Christine Cavallo (USA). Ravera Scaramozzino, of course, is fresh from a home Olympic Games, where she was fifth in the women’s double sculls.

Also coming from Paris are a trio of experienced single scullers: Paris silver medallist Emma Twigg (New Zealand), who was the 2022 world champion in this event; Austria’s Magdalena Lobnig; and Azerbaijan’s Diana Dymchenko. Other names to watch include Tokyo 2020 lightweight women’s double sculls champion Federica Cesarini of Italy, and the likes of Ireland’s Monika Dukarska, Spain’s Teresa Diaz Moreno, and Canada’s Sarah Pidgen.

Coastal Mixed Double Sculls (CMix2x)

35 entries

Both the gold and silver-medal winning crews from the 2023 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals return to compete in Genoa. New Zealand’s Jackie Kiddle is fresh off finishing fourth in the lightweight women’s double sculls at the Olympic Games, and she and her partner Matthew Dunham will be the ones to watch once again. British double Sam Scrimgeour and Laura McKenzie will have been training hard to close the gap on the Kiwis.

However, Kiddle is far from the only Olympian in the field. All eyes will be on sibling duo Finn and Karolien Florijn, world and Olympic champions in the men’s quadruple sculls and women’s single sculls respectively, who have been posting videos of their training sessions on social media. Meanwhile Roxana Anghel, who came away from Paris with women’s eight gold and women’s pair silver, has teamed up with Florin Horodisteanu for Romania. Keep a close eye, too, on Spain’s 2021 and 2022 world champions Esther Briz Zamorano and Ander Martin.

Coastal Mixed Quadruple Sculls (CMix4x)

16 entries

The USA are reigning champions in this event, but only coxswain Coral Kadsen is back to defend the title. Meanwhile three members of both the Italian and New Zealand silver and bronze medal-winning crews return. The New Zealanders have brought in five-time Olympian Emma Twigg – who won gold in the solo in 2022 – and Finlay Hamill to join Kristen Froude, Joseph Sullivan, and Matthew Dunham as coxswain and could be dangerous.

The Dutch entry is fascinating, featuring coxswain Dieuwke Fetter and Jan van der Bij from the Olympic silver-medal winning men’s eight, plus former Olympic and world medallist Marieke Keijser, Claire de Kok, and Beer Florijn, the youngest of the Florijn siblings. And then there’s Australia: all four of their rowers competed at the Olympic Games, and coxswain Hannah Cowap coxed the PR3 mixed coxed four at the Paralympic Games. All four of Ukraine’s crew have also raced for their country on flat water this year, with Daryna Verkhogliad and Stanislav Kovalov both Paris Olympians.

PR3 Coastal Mixed Double Sculls (PR3 CMix2x) – Inclusion event

8 entries

The PR3 coastal mixed double sculls features crews consisting of one rower classified as PR3, and one able-bodied rower. Last year’s winner, Macintyre Robinson, is joined by Olympian Lily Alton-Triggs, who raced in the women’s four in Paris. Italy’s Marco Frank is also coming straight from Paris, having finished sixth in the PR3 mixed coxed four at the Paralympic Games, and will row with Arianna Noseda, 2022 world champion in the lightweight women’s quadruple sculls. The USA also have a crew with experience at the highest level, featuring Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games silver medallist Danielle Hansen, rowing with Gary Rought who won silver in the coastal under 19 men’s double sculls at the 2022 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals.

Under-19 events

There are five Under 19 events at the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals: men’s and women’s solos, men’s and women’s double sculls, and mixed double sculls. The Under 19 events feature rowers aged from 14 to 18, with the youngest competitor being Cyprus’s Evgenia Maria Polycarpou in both women’s events. In the coastal under 19 men’s solo, 2023 champion Lucio Fugazotto will see if he can retain his title on home waters, as will his compatriots Leonardo Bellomo and Pasquale Tamborrino in the coastal under 19 men’s double sculls. On the women’s side, the USA’s Annelise Hahl – who won silver last year – will be looking to go one better this time. Hahl is also in the coastal under 19 women’s double sculls with Annalie Duncomb; the duo won bronze in 2022, and compete in the Under 19 category for the last time in Genoa.