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Sep 27, 2024
Team USA
USRowing is pleased to announce that Chris Bak (Cincinnati, Ohio/University of Cinncinati) has been named the 2024 USRowing Beach Sprint National Team Male Athlete of the Year, while Annelise Hahl (Cary, N.C./Triangle Rowing) has been selected as this year's USRowing Beach Sprint National Team Female Athlete of the Year.
Selected by the athletes and coaches of the team that competed at the 2024 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals, Bak and Hahl will be recognized on Attager Row at the Head of the Charles on Saturday, October 19, at 5 p.m.
A four-time national team member, Chris Bak won gold at the 2024 World Beach Sprint Finals in the men’s solo. He returned to the top step after failing to advance in 2023 from the quarterfinals of the men’s solo but winning gold in the mixed quadruple sculls. Bak won the men’s solo event in 2022, later being voted USRowing Beach Sprint National Team Male Athlete of the Year.
"Representing our country on the world stage has been a dream since I started rowing. However, it would not have been possible without amazing friends, coaches, and teammates around me,” Chris Bak said. “I am truly honored and inspired by my teammates for nominating me for this award.”
“Through the countless hours training together, I feel that I have gotten to know many of them and each of their personal stories. Their journeys inspire me and motivate me everyday, and to call them my teammates is an understatement, as I consider many of them an adopted family. I feel that so many athletes on the coastal team deserve this award, and I consider it not to be a representation of my success, but a representation of the family and culture that we have built over the years. My deepest gratitude goes out to my teammates for this nomination, and I can't wait to see what next year brings. Thank you, Super Team."
Annelise Hahl is a four-time national team member, having competed on both the U19 national team and the beach sprint national team. This year, Hahl took gold in the junior women’s solo and junior women’s double sculls events. She also won the single at the 2024 USRowing Youth National Championships. In 2023, Hahl finished second in the women’s solo at the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals.
Hahl said this about the award, “I am honored and grateful to be selected for the Beach Sprints Female Athlete of the Year. It has been incredible competing with Team USA over the past three years, and it's amazing to finally bring home some gold!”
“Beach sprints is such an intense, unpredictable, and fun sport that requires so many unique skills. Special thanks to my Super Coaches, Marc Oria and Ben Booth, for teaching me how to read the water, adapt to the conditions, and so much more. They taught me the importance of going with the flow.”
“I want to give a shoutout to Annalie Duncomb, my double buddy of three years, for always being with me to push through it all! To all my incredible teammates at Next Level Rowing, this award is as much yours as mine because of all the love, guidance, and support you've provided.”
“Finally, I have to thank my family, friends, and the coaches and teammates from Triangle Rowing. They are the foundation that made all this possible.”
USRowing’s U19, U23, Senior and Para Athletes of the Year were announced earlier this week.
