Australia’s Next Gen shines at World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals

Australia's Beach Sprint Team showcased their depth at the 2024 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals in Genoa, Italy, with podium finishes across the Under 19 events, securing eighth on the medal tally.  

Australia entered nine boats across four Under 19, four Senior, and one Para category, with the Junior boats securing three medals: Coastal Under 19 Women’s Solo (Silver), Coastal Under 19 Mixed Double Sculls (Bronze) and Coastal Under 19 Men’s Double Sculls (Bronze). 

Leading Australia’s charge were Samuel Forbes (University of Queensland Boat Club) and Astrid Thomas (University of Queensland Boat Club), who earned silver in the Coastal Under 19 Mixed Double Sculls.  

The Double dominated the early stages of the event, winning the preliminaries with a time of 2:20.06 and knocking out the Bahamas and Austria in subsequent rounds.  

In the final against Great Britain, the Australians delivered a powerful performance, but Great Britain's Sol Chamberlain-Hyde and Leah Saunders edged them out by a mere 0.53s, securing the silver for Forbes and Thomas. 

RESULTS: GBR, AUS, ESP, POR 

Samuel Forbes and Oscar Scheel Gamborg (Mosman Rowing Club) in the Coastal Under 19 Men’s Double Sculls clinched the Bronze medal.  

The duo stormed through the preliminary rounds, finishing first with a time of 2:08.32.  

After knocking out Austria and beating France by 2.44s in the quarterfinals, they narrowly missed the Gold-medal race after a tight semifinal loss to Italy by just 1.71s.  

However, they bounced back in the B-final, overpowering Egypt by 15.97s to secure the Bronze.  

RESULTS: ESP, ITA, AUS, EGY 

In the Coastal Under 19 Women’s Solo, Astrid Thomas earned a hard-fought bronze medal. 

Thomas secured 2nd place in the preliminary round with a time of 2:43.71 and advanced through the knockouts, beating France by 5.05s and Germany by 5.84s. 

Though she lost a close semifinal to Spain, Thomas faced China in the B-final.  

In a neck-and-neck race, Thomas managed to pull ahead at the finish, beating Jiang Yinghua by just 0.49s, delivering Australia its first beach sprint medal of the event.  

“It’s quite rough,” Thomas said after her race. “It’s different for every rower, definitely a lot to adapt to and learn from.” 

RESULTS: USA, ESP, AUS, CHN 

In the PR3 Coastal Mixed Double Sculls, Macintyre Russell (University of Queensland Boat Club) and Rowsella Lily Triggs (University of Queensland Boat Club) put up a remarkable performance, considering they had only started rowing together days before the competition. 

After placing 5th in the preliminaries, they beat Turkey by over a minute in the quarterfinals.  

Despite losing to the eventual winners, Great Britain, by 16.19s in the semifinals, the double narrowly missed the podium after losing to Italy in the B-final to finish the competition fourth in the world.  

RESULTS: GBR, USA, ITA, AUS 

The Coastal Mixed Double Sculls pairing of Blake Whyatt (West Australian Boat Club) and Elizabeth Newell (University of Queensland Boat Club) delivered a strong showing, finishing 8th in the preliminaries.  

They knocked out Brazil in the first round, then edged out France by just 0.07s in a thrilling quarterfinal.  

The double narrowly lost to Lithuania by 1.53s in the semifinals and finished 4th overall after a defeat by Spain in the B-final. 

RESULTS: LTU, ITA, ESP, AUS 

In the Coastal Mixed Quadruple Sculls, the Rowsellas crew of Amanda Bateman (VIS/HPNTC Melbourne University Boat Club), Georgie Rowe (NSWIS/HPNTC UTS Haberfield Rowing Club), Ben Canham (VIS/RBNTC Melbourne University Boat Club), Spencer Turrin OAM (NSWIS/RBNTC Sydney Rowing Club), and coxswain Hannah Cowap (Sydney Rowing Club) finished 7th in the preliminary rounds before losing to Germany in the knockouts.  

“It’s so fast and exhilarating,” Cowap said after their preliminary race. 

“At the start, I knocked the chair down... but other than that we nailed the bend, so pretty happy with it all around.” 

RESULTS: GBR, NED, FRA, ESP 

In the Coastal Women’s Solo, Samantha Blanchard (Commercial Rowing Club) made her Beach Sprint World Championship debut and delivered an impressive 10th place in the preliminary rounds with a time of 3:04.30.  

In the knockout stage, she faced the reigning champion from the Netherlands, Jannake Van Der Meulen.  

Despite a strong performance, Blanchard lost by 7.14s. 

RESULTS: AUT, GBR, NZL, NED 

In the Coastal Men’s Solo, Daniel Johnston (Palm Beach Surf Life Saving Club) battled difficult conditions, finishing 25th in the preliminaries with a time of 2:54.77.  

Unfortunately, due to errors in his time trial and the cancellation of the second round due to bad weather, Johnston did not progress to the knockout stages.  

RESULTS: USA, ESP, LTU, GER 

2024 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals Australian Medal Tally 

Gold – Zero 

Silver – One 

Bronze – Two 

Rowing Australia thanks Commonwealth Games Australia for their continuing support of our Beach Sprint program through the Green2Gold2Great Fund. 

Full results, highlights, replays, and images can be found here on the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals website.  

Images supplied by: World Rowing / Benedict Tufnell