Historic day for Germany on the Antalya beach

The second day of the 2025 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals brought overcast skies and a brief thunderstorm that failed to stop racing or dent the mood on the beach. Germany ended the day with two gold medals, after having never won a single title at a World Beach Sprint Finals previously.

Germany claim first gold in Antalya

Julius Bluemel and Julius Schueller of Germany won the coastal under 19 men’s double sculls timetrial, and confirmed their speed in the knockout rounds as they cruised through to the final – beating Ireland and Italy respectively. Great Britain had a slightly tougher route, beating Spain in the quarterfinal and Türkiye in an exciting semifinal. In the final, Germany were just stronger on the water, and beat Great Britain for their nation’s first-ever World Rowing Beach Sprints medal. The British silver was their best result in this event.

Bronze went to Italy. A better sprint gave them the lead over Türkiye as they started their row, and they stayed comfortably ahead on the return leg. Italy have won four medals in the five editions of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals featuring this event.

Result: GER, GBR, ITA, TUR

Bluemel said: “It’s incredible. It’s such a great feeling, indescribable. I reckon we’re going to feel it later today, but it’s just an amazing feeling how the whole weekend played out.”

Double gold for Germany

Mia Tetiwa and Selma Ritter had a similarly strong run to the final as their male teammates. The German under 19 women’s double had also won the timetrial, and took wins over the USA and Italy to reach their final. They would face Spain, who beat Ukraine comfortably and Great Britain by a slightly narrower margin in the semifinal. The final saw the Germans claim a second gold medal for their nation in the space of an hour, a result they were thrilled with; they were ahead of Spain from the moment they got into their boat, and managed the waves well to win an emotional title.

Italy took a second bronze, having had a cleaner race than Great Britain who caught an early small crab and never managed to entirely regain the lost distance.

Result: GER, ESP, ITA, GBR

Tetiwa said: “It’s amazing, because it’s just something that we did together. ”

Knockouts deliver drama

The coastal under 19 men’s solo knockouts went by the form book, with all eight of the qualifiers from timetrial 1 progressing. In the coastal under 19 women’s solos, there were some tight races. Egypt’s Mariam Awadallah was in a good position coming into the beach, but stumbled on her exit and gave Marlene Kuehr an opening, which the Austrian took. Li Lele (China) and Alejandra Garcia (Spain), like Kuehr, also progressed after coming through timetrial 2 in the morning.

The closest finish was in the coastal under 19 mixed double sculls, when Egypt beat Switzerland by 0.02 seconds. Both crews had come wide into the beach and although Switzerland corrected course better, Egypt’s Yasseen Elkomaty had the better run. However, Egypt were later given a 10-second penalty for entering the Swiss lane, meaning Switzerland progress.

Last chance for the knockouts

The morning session featured second timetrials for the four solo events and the junior and senior mixed double sculls, and the timetrial for the coastal inclusion mixed double sculls. The top eight crews went through to the knockout rounds in each of the second timetrials.

In the coastal under 19 women’s solo, Agustina Lopez of Paraguay became the first-ever rower from her nation to qualify for a knockout round at a World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals.

European champion James Cox (Great Britain) sneaked through into the knockout round in eighth place in the coastal men’s solo second timetrial, which was won by Australia’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Spencer Turrin. Thalita Rosa Soares (Brazil) won the coastal women’s solo second timetrial, progressing alongside an impressive group including 2025 World Rowing Championships competitors Teresa Diaz (Spain) and Zoi Fitsiou (Greece), 2023 World Rowing Beach Sprints champion Janneke van der Meulen (Netherlands).

Mexico made a big leap up the standings from 27th in the first timetrial to qualify for the knockout round in the coastal under 19 mixed double sculls; France won the second timetrial. Croatia took the win in the senior mixed double sculls, with a great row.

Great Britain and Egypt qualified directly for the semifinals of the coastal inclusion mixed double sculls after the timetrial. It is the first time this event has officially been part of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals.