For the second year in a row, the World Rowing Beach Sprints Finals will be held in Italy, the birthplace of the discipline, this year in the port city of Genoa on the Ligurian Riviera. The first event of the Los Angeles Olympic cycle, this event has attracted a record 16 entries including four new entries from south of the equator as they will fight it out for the highest award in the sport. With exciting, close racing guaranteed all weekend, this is not one to miss.
United States
The defending champions from the United States return to Italy with a new crew; only the cox Coral Marie Kasden returns from last year’s triumphant group. In their place is a new boat, hailing once again from Next Level Rowing’s beach sprints-centred programme. For two of the new group, this is their first taste of international beach sprints, but the headliner of this crew is their young stroke seat Malachi Anderson, winner of three silver medals in the junior events over the last two years. He has stepped up to the senior level in his first year of eligibility and will look to continue his winning ways this weekend.
Italy
The story for the losing finalists is very different, as Italy returns three of the five athletes from their silver medal-winning crew. The crew in 2023 was made up of debutants to world-level beach sprinting, and this may have cost them as a scrappy turn gave away too much of an advantage to the US crew. This year’s crew, with its returners, has benefited from that experience, and with a growing beach sprint setup domestically, their experience is not simply when the pressure is at its highest. With the addition of Sofia Secoli and Leonardo Tedoldi to the crew, who were both on the edge of the senior national team this year, the crew will expect to improve and once again be in the hunt for the gold medal.
New Zealand
The New Zealand crew is headlined by Emma Twigg; the five-time Olympian and 2020 Olympic champion is doubling up from the women’s solo into this class as she did to win a gold and a silver at the 2022 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals. She is not the only one in the crew racing twice this weekend as Finlay Hamill is also rowing in the men’s solo, and while Matthew Dunham will be rowing to defend his title in the mixed double, this crew will be utilising his speed across the sand as he coxes this crew. In combination with two other established rowers, including another previous Olympic champion in Joseph Sullivan, this crew will be aiming to win gold this year after two successive years in the minor medals.
Australia
Australia is entering this event for the first time, bringing their firepower with them. All five of the athletes in this crew were competing in Paris, including coxswain Hannah Cowap, who steered the PR3 mixed coxed four at the Paralympic Games just a couple of weeks ago. In Paris, it was not a good regatta for the green and gold as they left with just a bronze medal for their troubles. However, there is no lack of winning habits in this crew, as Spencer Turrin, in the bow, won gold in Tokyo just three years ago. Entering a new discipline with a crew of five debutants may pose some challenges in adaptation, but if this crew can utilise their power through the water properly, Turrin could be in a position to run up the beach to claim a medal.
Netherlands
Across the events at the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals, there are a lot of Olympians representing the Netherlands and this boat is no exception. In the stroke seat is Jan van der Bij who won silver in the men’s eight alongside coxswain Dieuwke Fetter. Marieke Keijser won bronze in the lightweight double in Tokyo. The only athlete in the boat without a senior vest in classic rowing is 19-year-old Beer Florijn, the next member of the Florijn dynasty and the only member of the crew with beach sprint experience. To combat this inexperience, the crew raced across various classes in the World Rowing Coastal Championships on the Genoa shores over a four-kilometre coast, with the boat collecting six medals between them. If they can match that level over the shorter distances among breaking waves, this crew could put themselves in the conversations late in the competition.
Great Britain
The British entry in this event draws from those who have been around the burgeoning beach sprint scene for several years. Ryan Glymond of the University of St Andrews coxes this crew for the third time, and London Olympian Charles Cousins was an early champion of the discipline and won silver in the mixed double in 2022. Among the rest of the crew, Heather Gordon and Rosa Thomson will compete at a world level for the first time whilst the most well-known name in the boat – Cameron Buchan – will earn his first GB vest in seven years. All five athletes have become common faces on the beaches of Britain and won selection from a strong group so the British selectors will be hoping that this crew can finally break through the quarterfinal stage where they have fallen in their two previous entries.
Spain
The traditional powerhouse within coastal rowing, Spain won this event in 2021 and 2022 but missed the final for the first time ever last year when they fell to France in the quarterfinals after their opponents were able to ride a wave to victory in the final hundred metres. This year, the boat looks to be used as a development outfit by the selectors with some less experienced athletes in the discipline – at least by the standards of the Spanish squad. The crew’s most experienced member is Miguel Salas Cordoba, who raced as a junior at the world finals in 2021, winning gold in the junior men’s double and reaching the semifinals in the junior men’s solo. Despite less experience on the world stage, they will be well versed in coastal rowing with a strong culture for the sport back home.
Prediction
The crew in the New Zealand boat is mightily impressive, with experience on the waves and brilliance in the classic discipline of the sport. The only worry about this crew is the doubling up, but as the quad is the first senior event to crown its champion, I cannot see anyone getting the better of them.
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