Hot on the heels of the World Rowing Coastal Championships and Beach Sprint Finals, the best coastal rowers in Europe will meet in San Sebastian, Spain, for the European Rowing Coastal and Beach Sprint Championships.

This will be the first time San Sebastian hosts a European Rowing event – and the last time for the athletes to compete at European level in 2022. Here are our rowers to watch.

Beach Sprints

The Men’s Solo (CM1x) seems to be wide open. Recent bronze medallist in Saundersfoot, Wales, Finland’s Joel Naukkarinen looks to build on a strong performance from what was his first international beach sprint event. But he will face tough competition – mainly from 2021 World Rowing Beach Sprint Champion, Giovanni Ficarra of Italy, looking for redemption after a disappointing quarterfinal elimination in Saundersfoot. Watch out too for Ireland’s Kealan Mannix and Sweden’s Denis Gustavsson.

2022 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals in Pembrokeshire, Great Britain / World Rowing/Benedict Tufnell

The Women’s Solo (CW1x) sees some of the competitors from Wales returning – including bronze medallist Michala Pospilisova of the Czech Republic. Some interesting names – including Monika Dukarska of Ireland, Teresa Diaz Moreno of Spain and Beatriz Varela of Portugal will certainly be in the mix for the gold medal. We will also follow the performances of Janneke Van Der Meulen of the Netherlands and Maria Berg of Sweden, who both grabbed medals at the Coastal championships two weeks ago – in the endurance format.

In the Mixed Double Sculls (CMix2x), all eyes will be on the reigning World Champions, Ander Martin and Esther Briz of Spain. They recently repeated their incredible performance from 2021, when they won gold in both the Beach Sprint Finals and the Coastal Championships, and will be looking to keep their winning streak alive. Who can beat them? The French combination of Edwige Alfred and Ludovic Dubuis will have another shot at the champions after being beat by them in the semifinals in Saundersfoot. The Polish duo of Maciej Zawoski and Agnieszka Kobus-Zawojska have tons of World – and now Coastal – rowing experience. It will be interesting to see, for the first time, combinations from Belgium and Romania giving it a go.

The same boat classes will also be raced in the Under 19 age category and we will see again some of the winners from Saundersfoot, including the Quaranta siblings from Italy in the Under 19 Coastal Mixed Double Sculls (CJMix2x), or both French single scullers, Evan Cailhau and Maxence Dupuis, looking to improve on their fourth places in Wales.

Coastal Championships

In the endurance format races, entries will be divided between National Teams and Clubs. The National Team Men’s Solo (MCM1x) is very likely to be won by a Spaniard – the boat class sees the reigning World Champion in the solo, Adrian Miramon Quiroga, facing the 2021 World Champion, Jaime Canalejo Pazos. Can former Olympians, Mitchel Steenman of the Netherlands or Maciej Zawoski of Poland do anything to stop the Spanish domination on home waters?

The National Team Women’s Solo (MCW1x) is a bit more open – can the absence of Jessica Berra and Diana Dymchenko, gold and silver medallists in Wales in this boatclass, open the door for Maria Berg of Sweden? Experienced coastal rowers such as Monika Dukarska and Miriam Sheehan of Ireland, Edwige Alfred of France or Janneke Van Der Meulen of the Netherlands will all have a shot at a place on the podium.

2022 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals in Pembrokeshire, Great Britain / World Rowing/Benedict Tufnell

In the National Team Mixed Double Sculls (MCMix2x), Charles Cousins and Clare Jamison of Great Britain, who won silver together at the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals, will this time try their luck in the endurance format. Monika Dukarska and Patrick Boomer of Ireland missed out on a medal by 0.09 seconds in Wales and will be looking to secure a spot on the podium this time. In the absence of the reigning champions (Briz & Martin), look out for Teresa Diaz Moreno and Adolfo Ferrer Martin, who will look to uphold the Spanish tradition in the Mixed Double.

The Club entries also provide some intriguing line-ups. The Club Women’s Solo (CCW1x) will see the rematch between Dymchenko and Berra, with Clare Jamison of Great Britain and Annalisa Corazzini of Italy also in the mix for medals. In the Club Men’s Solo (CCM1x), Simone Martini of Italy is a name to watch – as well as Ramon Gomez Cotilla, racing as ESP01. The Club Women’s Double Sculls (CCW2x) will see the recent World Champions, Janneke Van Der Meulen and Karien Robbers, looking to repeat on their dominant performance from Wales.

The Club Men’s Double Sculls (CCM2x) has 26 entries, with countries like Croatia, Estonia and Hungary competing. Former Olympians, Charles Cousins of Great Britain or Igor Boraska of Croatia will be competing against more experienced coastal rowers, such as Marcos and Miguel Salas Cordoba, racing as ESP02. With five boats entered, Spain will be hard to beat in the Club Mixed Double Sculls (CCMix2x) – and with strong combinations such as Ander Martin and Esther Briz, or Jaime Canalejo Pazos and Natalia De Miguel Gomez, they could trust all podium places. Look for Irish Olympian Ronan Byrne, teaming up with Natalie Long, or Carina and Malte Hein of Germany to do their best to stop the Spanish domination.

The Club Men’s and Women’s Quads (CCM4x+, CCW4x+) are a bit harder to predict, but watch as Spain to try and assert their domination on home waters. In the men’s event, ESP01 will be reinforced by Uruguayan Olympian Bruno Cetraro Berriolo. One very interesting boat to follow will be the Estonian Quad – Tonu Endrekson, Allar Raja, Johann Poolak and Mikhail Kushteyn were in the A-Final at the World Rowing Championships a month ago, and will for the first time compete at the Coastal Championships. We will also follow closely Felipe Mendez Tome who will cox a men and a women’s crew and could go away with two gold medals.

2023 ANOC World Beach Games – Continental Qualification Event

This event will also serve as the first qualification event for the 2023 ANOC WBG. The quota places in all qualification regattas are allocated to the NOC(s) and the NOC may enter a boat with different athletes at the ANOC World Beach Games than those who qualified the boat.

The two (2) highest ranked boats per event in the Continental Qualification regatta will earn one (1) quota place for their NOC in the respective event, respecting the maximum quota allocation per NOC per event as specified in section B, paragraph 2.

The World Rowing Continental Qualification Regattas shall be held in accordance with the World Rowing Rules of Racing and the World Rowing Beach Sprint Rowing Regulations (Appendix R19). The progression system shall be the World Rowing Beach Sprint Progression System as shown on the
World Rowing website.

An NOC may enter only one (1) boat per event at the Continental Qualification Regatta and will be eligible for qualification only in the events in which their NOC has not already qualified through D.1.1.

Relay Qualification Event: Only NOCs, with boats competing in all three AWBG 2023 events (CM1x, CW1x and CMix2x) shall qualify for the Relay event. World Rowing decision on teams qualified to compete in the Relay shall be final.

The full qualification document is available here.

How to follow the European Rowing Coastal and Beach Sprint Championships

The first races commence Thursday 27 October at 09:30 (CET).

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Rowers to watch and how to follow : 2022 European Rowing Coastal and Beach Sprint Championships

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