China dominate on packed day at 2026 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals

QINGDAO, CHINA – The host nation produced a series of stellar performances to dominate at the 2026 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals, winning four gold medals in a packed day of action.

China started and finished the day with wins in the coastal under 19 men’s and mixed double sculls, and added victories in the coastal men’s solo and coastal under 19 women’s solo along the way. They also won three silver medals and one bronze to top the medal table.

It was China’s best performance at a World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals since the inaugural event in Shenzhen in 2019, when they won three gold medals and one silver across the four boat classes on offer.

Fast forward seven years, and the hosts missed out on medals in just two of the 10 events, despite a much deeper field across the board. All medal events were raced on Tuesday, after Wednesday’s programme was brought forwards in anticipation of adverse weather.

Spain, Australia and Germany all also had solid days on the Golden Sands beach. Germany came away with medals in two of the three Olympic-class events – gold in the coastal mixed double sculls, and bronze for Moritz Wolff in the coastal men’s solo.

Australia’s Isabella Scammell won the coastal women’s solo, ahead of China’s Zhu Wenjie, and Samuel Forbes took silver behind Liu Jiayu of China in the coastal men’s solo. Forbes had previously knocked out four-time champion Christopher Bak (USA) in the quarterfinals, while Liu defeated European champion Ander Martin (ESP) at the same stage.

The coastal women’s solo podium was completed by Magdalena Lobnig. The Austrian now has a full set of medals after winning gold in 2024 and silver in 2025.

In the coastal mixed double sculls, Germany beat two-time champions Lithuania to gold and Poland claimed their first-ever beach sprints medal, bronze.

The results in the Olympic events qualified seven nations – China, Australia, Germany, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain and the USA – for the new World Rowing Beach Sprint Series, which debuts next year with events in Türkiye and China.

The 2026 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals also saw a host of firsts, including the best-ever results for nations such as Croatia, Greece, the Netherlands, Thailand, and Portugal’s solos. The diversity of impressive performances and the arrival of a number of new nations on the beach sprint scene suggests that competition will continue to stiffen in the hunt for qualification spots for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.