"VAN" (Sports Desk - 10.11.2025) :: The 2025 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals concluded on a high on Sunday in Antalya, Türkiye, with more historic performances.
With the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games on the horizon, competition was intense from start to finish, and the next Olympic hosts left Antalya second on the medal table – and crucially top of the senior rankings.
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.
The 2025 event also saw the first official running of the inclusion mixed double sculls, for one para-rower and one able-bodied rower, after two exhibition events in 2023 and 2024. Great Britain’s Colin Wallace and Megan Hewison claimed the first world title, while Egypt’s silver was their best result at a World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals.
Australia also achieved a best-ever finish with bronze in the quadruple sculls, the nation’s first senior beach sprints medal.
New Zealand’s Emma Twigg won the coastal women’s solo, adding to her title from 2022 and defeating 2024 champion Magdalena Lobnig (Austria) in the final. As the previous medal came after the early cancellation of racing, Twigg said it felt good to win through completion of the side-by-side racing.
Lithuania’s Dominykas Jancionis and Martyna Kazlauskaite defended their coastal mixed double sculls title, beating Bak and his double partner Sera Busse in an exciting race.
Overall, Germany topped the medal table with two gold medals and three silvers, all from the under 19 events. The USA added gold in the coastal mixed coxed quadruple sculls to their total.
A total of 12 nations from Europe, Africa, the Americas and Oceania won medals across the 10 events offered, including eight winning gold medals.
The next edition of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals is scheduled to take place in Qingdao, China, in October 2026.
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