Bak in the spotlight as 2025 World Beach Sprint Finals end

The USA’s Christopher Bak became the most-decorated beach sprint rower of all time on Sunday in Antalya, winning a gold and silver medal.

Bak’s successful title defence in the coastal men’s solo, coupled with silver in the coastal mixed double sculls, means he has now won a total of six World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals medals – four gold, one silver, and one bronze. Nobody has won more gold medals than Bak, and he is level with Tunisian Hela Belhaje Mohamed in terms of number of medals.

Overall, Germany topped the medal table with two gold medals and three silvers, all from the junior events. The USA won two golds and a silver on Sunday in the senior events.

USA win superb quad gold

After two fallow years without a medal in the coastal mixed quadruple sculls, Spain came to Antalya with a blisteringly fast combination. After winning the timetrial, the Spanish beat France then Australia to reach the final. Türkiye had a superb quarterfinal to push 2024 champions Great Britain out of the running, setting up a semifinal against the USA, but the USA were too strong in that race.

In the final, the USA’s cleaner start paid off as they rounded the turn ahead of Spain and held on to that narrow lead for the return leg. Malachi Anderson secured victory with a strong sprint, and the Los Angeles hosts celebrated their second-ever gold medal in this event. Bronze went to Australia, who executed a very solid race in the B-final, reaching the halfway turn ahead of Türkiye and powering home. The medal is their first-ever senior World Rowing Beach Sprints Finals medal.

Results: USA, ESP, AUS, TUR

Anderson said: “I’ve been chasing this one for a long time, so I’m very happy. The goal was just to get ahead of Spain from the start, and I was surprised we were able to do that.”

Bak back to his best

After winning the timetrial and his quarterfinal, and leading through most of the semifinal, Moritz Wolff’s run through the coastal men’s solos ended in agony as he tripped and fell on the sprint, trying to outrun Ander Martin of Spain. That sent Martin through to the final for his first shot at the solo title, after two previous wins in the coastal mixed double sculls. Defending champion Christopher Bak (USA) beat European bronze medallist Mathis Nottelet (France) in the second semifinal by a good margin.

The relative effort expended in the two semifinals showed in the final, as Bak was able to beat his old friend Martin fairly comfortably to claim his fourth World Rowing Beach Sprints Finals gold medal. Nobody has ever secured more titles. Martin’s silver was his fourth medal in total, adding to two mixed double sculls golds and a bronze. Nottelet won bronze after conserving his energy in his semifinal. He just led Wolff into the beach and the German did not have enough left to sprint for the buzzer.

Results: USA, ESP, FRA, GER

Bak said: “It’s a title that’s only borrowed – I’m happy to borrow it one more year. This competition is insane. Every competitor this year was absolutely phenomenal.”

Twigg on top

New Zealand’s Emma Twigg had two good wins against Raminta Morkunaite (Lithuania) and Laura McKenzie (Great Britain) to take her through to the coastal women’s solo final, giving her the chance to win her second title in this event after 2022 – although this was the first side-by-side final Twigg had contested, as the final rounds were cancelled in 2022 due to weather and results awarded based on the timetrial. She faced Austria’s defending champion Magdalena Lobnig (Austria), who knocked out Christine Cavallo (USA) and Teresa Diaz (Spain) on her way to the gold-medal round.

The final was close to halfway, but Twigg made her halfway turn more effectively than Lobnig and had more speed on the return leg. She claimed gold to add to her already packed medals cabinet, with Lobnig taking silver. McKenzie claimed bronze after a clean row in the B-final against Diaz, adding this medal to her European silver in this boat class and a previous world silver in the mixed double sculls from 2023.

Results: NZL, AUT, GBR, ESP

Twigg said: “It feels good to actually get through the three races. The thing with coastal is that you’ve just got to go with your instincts and today I decided I was going to take the turns pretty hot. It’s been a great week.”

Lithuania defend doubles title

The coastal mixed double sculls medal rounds delivered plenty of excitement. France edged out Italy by 0.18 seconds in the second quarterfinal; Italy’s male rower, Federico Ceccarino, gave his crew the lead on the water, but France closed the gap on the return and Antoine Lefebvre was able to just out-run Federica Cesarini. Although France threw everything into the semifinal, defending champions Dominykas Jancionis and Martyna Kazlauskaite of Lithuania were too strong in the closing stages, after previously beating Poland. Portugal and the USA beat Tunisia and Spain respectively in the quarterfinals, and in their semifinal the USA’s return leg was too strong for Portugal.

The final was a thriller. Lithuania had a better start and turn, but the USA were absolutely in the mix coming into the finish and Christopher Bak threw everything at the run to try for his second gold medal of the day. He was just edged out, but claimed a good silver for himself and Sera Busse.

A better line on the slalom leg gave France a decent lead as they rounded the turn in the B-final, and they could stay ahead of Portugal for bronze.

Results: LTU, USA, FRA, POR

Jancionis said: “Super-tough water, it felt very hard as usual. The competition is getting closer and closer.”

Great Britain take inclusion doubles gold

After the timetrials and repechages, the inclusion mixed double sculls crews were straight into semifinals in the event’s first official running after two exhibition appearances in 2023 and 2024. Great Britain’s Colin Wallace won in 2024 and, teamed up this year with Megan Hewison, cruised through to the final against Egypt who pushed Türkiye out of contention.

The British were also too strong for Egypt in the final, taking an early lead on the water after a pretty even sprint, and never looking back. Egypt’s silver is their best World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals result. A better turn took Austria into the lead over Türkiye in the B-final, and Paralympian Thomas Ebner was able to run in to take bronze.

Results: GBR, EGY, AUT, TUR

Wallace said: “Incredible. It’s so amazing sitting on the start line in an international event with all these people. To be an official world champion is unbelievable.”