"VAN" (Sports Desk - 01.11.2026) :: Coastal Rowing Beach Sprints made their Youth Olympic Games debut today at Saly Beach West, with Germany, Greece and Switzerland setting the pace on the first day of competition. The format makes its Olympic debut at Los Angeles 2028.
Young athletes from around the world raced in the Mixed Double Sculls and the Men’s and Women’s Solo Time Trials, facing soft sand, a light crosswind and occasional Atlantic waves.
Mixed Double Sculls
Germany’s Johann Felix Meyer and Carolina Guerra Gonzalez led Time Trial 1 in 2:35.86, 1.71 seconds ahead of China’s Juntao Su and Liu Lili. Spain’s Diego Molina Martinez and Blanca Lopez Valera took third in 2:37.85. The top eight crews advanced to the Last 16, and the remaining crews return for Time Trial 2 on Sunday.
Men’s Solo
Greece’s Iason Mouselimis won Time Trial 1 in 2:39.75, ahead of Egypt’s Yossuf Moursi (2:40.60) and Italy’s Davide Gazzola (2:41.54). South Africa’s Callum Dreyer was fourth, with Germany’s Meyer, who also led the mixed event, fifth. The top eight advanced directly to the Last 16.
Women’s Solo
Switzerland’s Tanya Brendle set the fastest women’s time of the day, 2:57.82, just 0.07 seconds clear of China’s Liu Lili (2:57.89). Spain’s Blanca Lopez Valera was third (2:58.31), followed by Czechia’s Marie Zavadilova (3:02.40), Australia’s Camilla Griffin and Great Britain’s Lexi Gill. The top eight advanced directly to the Last 16.
A Beach Built for Sprinting
Guin Batten, Dakar 2026 Technical Delegate for the Coastal Rowing Beach Sprints, said the sand at Saly is one of the venue’s best features. “It feels beautiful under your feet. It’s like putting your feet in cream. It’s amazing, so clean.”
A light southerly wind blowing across the southwest-facing beach helped keep the swell down. “We had a really cool wind coming in from the left-hand side, which was picking the athletes up as they came along the long runs,” Batten said. Racing ran through a narrow tidal window, from an hour after low tide to just before high tide.
The first day also showed what hosting rowing at the Youth Olympic Games in Africa means. “There’s loads more people around. We have a lot of people at our events, but the Youth Olympic Games have so many more. It was really cool for the athletes to be right at the centre of this,” Batten said.
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