Beach sprint champions crowned on sunny Saturday

Saturday in Genoa saw a string of knockout races at the 2024 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals, culminating in thrilling finals in five events and new champions crowned.

Great Britain takes gold as inclusion wins

The PR3 coastal mixed double sculls inclusion event saw some tough racing between the crews. In the final, Great Britain’s Colin Wallace and Natacha Searson got out fastest and held their advantage to the finish to take gold ahead of the USA’s Gary Rought and Danielle Hansen. In the race for bronze, Italy had the better start, with Marco Frank and Arianna Noseda leading out Australia’s Macintyre Russell and Lily Triggs. Australia then had trouble with the turning buoy, allowing the Italians to scull in for third place overall.

Results: GBR, USA, ITA

Wallace said: “We had a week in Jersey before we came out focusing on the turns, the starts, the exits. The big thing I think we did well is dealing with whatever’s thrown at you – conditions, waves, hit the buoy, not quite getting the turn – and just being able to roll with the punches.”

Hansen said: “Any time that we can have more inclusion in any sport it’s going to be very impactful in a positive way, so having this event here this year is meaningful in a lot of different ways.”

Frank said: “This is my first beach competition, I’m coming here straight from Paris from the coxed four. It’s another type of rowing, but really fun, really quick with a lot of different conditions. A little bit of luck, a little bit of waves.”

Yang makes history for China

The coastal under-19 men’s solo racing was intense throughout the day and the final rounds nailbiting. Germany’s Ben Henke, who had finished 16th in the time trial, ended up in the final after a strong series of knockout races. But he could not contend with the efficiency and power of China’s Yang Yuqi, who sculled, steered and sprinted his way to China’s first under-19 beach sprints medal ever and their first beach sprints medal since 2019. The bronze medal went to Lucio Fugazzotto, who managed to outsprint Tomas Neves of Portugal after losing the semifinal to Henke on the run.

Results: CHN, GER, ITA

Henke said: “The sun is now burning, it’s very hard for my body. My right leg is now fully destroyed, everything is going to hurt, but it was OK for my first competition here and very fun for me. I had a very great time.”

A full set of beach sprints medals for Hahl

Aged 16, Annalise Hahl won her first World Rowing Beach Sprints Finals medal in 2022, bronze in the coastal under-19 women’s double sculls. Last year she took silver in the coastal under-19 women’s solo, and in Genoa she improved to gold with a series of consistent and strong rows. In the B-final, Australia’s Astrid Thomas and China’s Jiang Yinghua rounded the turning buoy together and were close throughout the return leg. Thomas just found a bit more speed into the finish and managed to hit the buzzer first for her nation’s first beach sprints medal.

Results: USA, ESP, AUS

Hahl said: “Just getting out there before the race I knew I had to give it everything I had. I had put so much work into this, my coaches knew I had this, I had everyone cheering for me. It was such a fun race. This was my last year as under-19 and I needed that gold.”

British quad rule the Genoa waves

The coastal mixed quadruple sculls produced thrilling racing. Australia and New Zealand, both crews stacked with top-class flat-water rowers, lost out in the Last 16 as their runners Spencer Turrin and Emma Twigg, respectively, tripped on their boat exits. Exits and the sprint up the beach continued to be key, with both the Netherlands and Great Britain earning their spots in the gold-medal race through the efforts of their sprinters. The final was equally exciting, as the Dutch and British went head-to-head. Great Britain just had more power in the finish and took gold, their nation’s second-ever beach sprint title; France claimed bronze after executing their turn to perfection.

Results: GBR, NED, FRA

Ryan Glymond (GBR) said: “It was frantic. They had a really good start, we started to power past but the Netherlands are a really strong, powerful nation in rowing so it was always going to be a tight race. Those guys nailed the turn and so did we, and then surfing the waves on the way back in, knowing we were pulling ahead, was just the most special feeling.”

Marieke Keijser (NED), said: “Not the gold that we wanted, but we’ve never trained together. We didn’t train at all here because of the weather conditions, so then silver is what it is. But – only beach vibes.“

Charlielie Rubio (FRA) said: “We’re super happy. We had bad conditions at the start of the weekend, so we were afraid we wouldn’t be able to race. In the end this was a beautiful day to do beach sprints. We’re happy to have won the B-final, after our failure last year when we were fourth. We will savour this one a little.”

Lithuania take first-ever world beach sprints title

After 2023 champions New Zealand missed out in the time trials, and 2023 silver medallists Great Britain lost in the Last 16 to Italy, the way was paved for Lithuania to claim gold in the coastal mixed double sculls, a debut medal at a world beach sprints competition. Dominykas Jancionis and Martyna Kazlauskaite, who have both represented their nation on flat water, looked strong throughout to take gold ahead of local girl Silvia Tripi and her partner Federico Ceccarino. There was semifinal heartbreak for 2022 champions Esther Briz Zamorano and Ander Martin of Spain, who suffered a technical problem wtih Briz’s seat midway through the race. That allowed Italy to scull through to reach the final. In the B-final, Spain made the most of the situation to claim bronze.

Result: LTU, ITA, ESP

Jancionis said: “I don’t like flat water, it’s very hard on flat water. I prefer waves, they’re much easier. But it was a great win.”

Tripi said: “I feel sad, but tomorrow I will be really really excited.”

Briz said: “It feels like we didn’t lose (the semifinal), the seat was stuck from the beginning. It feels like not even a defeat because we never fought for it. But we stood up; we had very little time to recover after the semi, it was literally the following race, so we were like ‘heads up, let’s take it’. We demonstrate that. It was definitely a good race, the B-final.”