Mixed Quad Wins Gold, U19 Men’s and Women’s Solos Win Silver in Barletta

The open mixed quadruple sculls with coxswain won the gold medal, while the under 19 men's and women's solos won silver medals to give the U.S. three podium finishes on the first day of finals at the 2023 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals in Barletta, Italy.

The mixed quad of Christopher Bak (Cincinnati, Ohio/University of Cincinnati/Next Level Rowing), Jeni Sorli (Red Lodge, Mont./University of Colorado/Riverside Boat Club/Next Level Rowing), Alexa McAuliffe (Boston, Mass./University of Texas/Next Level Rowing), Kory Rogers (The Woodlands, Texas/ University of Texas/Next Level Rowing/Texas Crew), and coxswain Coral Kasden (San Diego, Calif./University of California, Santa Barbara/NYAC/Next Level Rowing) won the final ahead of Italy by over 11 seconds to claim the gold medal.

"It's incredible," said Sorli, who was part of the bronze-medal crew last year. "It feels like it's been one long journey since last year. We put in a lot of hard work over the winter. I trained really hard personally, and I know the team trained hard. We really came together, and there's a lot of satisfaction doing it for the team."

The U.S. struggled with the water in its quarterfinal and had to make a furious comeback in the home stretch to best Great Britain by two seconds and advance to the semifinals. The Americans got stronger each race, beating New Zealand in the semifinals by about seven seconds before taking out the Italians in the final. The U.S. clocked a 2:27.35 to win the final race.

"The wind down there was pretty gnarly at a certain angle, so it was really pushing our bow around, and we got caught in it," Kasden said of the quarterfinal. "I'm so grateful we got a run in (in those conditions) on the water that helped us prepare for the other races. Going out, I had no idea. We were a length down the whole time, and then coming around the turn, we were a length down. And then all of the sudden with 100 meters to go, we were two seats down. I yelled, 'Go!' and we just picked up the momentum and then we were dead even. I just (thought) 'Chris has got it.'"

Malachi Anderson (Hamilton, Ohio/Sinclair Community College/Great Miami Rowing/Next Level Rowing) brought home the silver medal in the under 19 men's solo event. After earning the top seed for the quarterfinals by posting the fastest time in yesterday's Last 16, Anderson topped France's Geoffrey Guillon in the first quarterfinal and then defeated Tunisia's Ahmed Talbi in the semifinals, setting up a race with Italy's Lucio Fugazzotto in the final.

"I knew Tunisia was going to be very fast," Anderson said of the semifinal. "They've always been very fast. Over the past few years, they've dominated the field. That was probably the race I was most nervous about. The final, you are right where you need to be. You just have to perform. The semifinal – it really mattered to me because if I lost that, I would have to race right again in the B final, so it was a really good spot I put myself in."

In the race for the gold medal, Anderson lost the grip on his oar in the swell heading towards the first buoy, stopping his momentum. He was unable to get back on pace with the Italian. Fugazzotto won the gold medal in a 2:50.57, with Anderson crossing in a 3:05.63. Egypt's Omar Elkomaty won the bronze medal over Talbi.

"I'm very happy with how it turned out," Anderson said. "Coming from the time trial, I didn't expect to be that high in the ranking, and it gave me some confidence. I knew today was going to be a big fight. I'm happy with where I ended up."

In the under 19 women's solo, Annelise Hahl (Cary, N.C./Needham Broughton High School/Triangle Rowing Club/Next Level Rowing) also took home the silver medal. Hahl defeated Sweden's Marta Bruhn-Karlsson in the quarterfinals by nearly nine seconds and then won her semifinal over Egypt's Hannah Elsobky by 33 seconds. In the final, Tunisia's Hela Belhaje Mohamed was able to make it three world titles in a row, winning the gold medal by a little more than four seconds. Belhaje Mohamed won the race in a 3:01.31, with Hahl crossing in a 3:05.89.

"That was incredible," Hahl said. "I honestly came here – I didn't know what to expect. I had never raced the coastal single before. I've mostly been in the double with Annalie (Duncomb). It was just exciting to get out there and show everyone what I could do. It was definitely getting more challenging as we went on because the surf picked up a bit in the wind, but I think I controlled myself the best I could, and I'm happy with what I did."

The U.S. tandem of Rogers and Christine Cavallo (Windermere, Fla./Stanford University/Next Level Rowing) was knocked out in the quarterfinals of the open mixed double sculls. Rogers and Cavallo advanced to the quarterfinals thanks to a victory in their Last 16 matchup in the day's opening race. The U.S. boat clocked a 2:34.10 to defeat Croatia's Paola Girotto and Lovre Puh by 19 seconds.

With Rogers having just won the gold medal in the mixed quad just 10 minutes before his quarterfinal race, the American duo fell to Italy's Andrea Serafino and Annalisa Cozzarini. Rogers and Cavallo were a little over one second down at the turn but were unable to chase down Italy, who finished with a time of 2:43.77. The U.S. finished in a 2:49.46.

After a 10-second penalty in the time trial pushed Hahl and Annalie Duncomb (Mason, Ohio/William Mason High School/Great Miami Rowing) into the repechages of the under 19 women's double sculls, the defending Beach Sprint bronze medalists easily posted the fastest time of the repechages to move on to the quarterfinals. Racing in the first repechage against the Bahamas, Hahl and Duncomb covered the course in a 2:48.10 to win by more than a minute. The duo advanced to Sunday's quarterfinal round.

"We weren't expecting to race today, but honestly, I'm glad we did," Duncomb said. "It keeps me warm, keeps me on my feet, which is good to prepare for our finals. That race went perfectly, nothing went wrong. It went exactly as we wanted it to go, so I'm happy with where we are at."

In the under 19 men's double sculls, Luke Eward (Durham, N.C./Triangle Rowing Club) and Aidan Humbert (Apex, N.C./Crossroads FLEX High School/Next Level Rowing/Triangle Rowing Club) were eliminated by Ukraine in the repechage. Eward and Humbert got off the beach just ahead of Ukraine's Bohdan Hladchenko and Ihor Mazepa, but the Ukrainian crew was able to pull ahead in the outgoing stretch. Ukraine won the race in a 2:33.68, with the U.S. finishing in a 2:43.31.

Sunday's racing features the medal round races in the under 19 women's double sculls, under 19 men's double sculls, under 19 mixed double sculls, open men's solo, and open women's solo. The U.S. will have four boats, including the U19 women's double that advanced today, hoping to reach the medal stand on Sunday.

In the U19 mixed double sculls, Anderson and Britt Wotovich (Redington Beach, Fla./Berkeley Preparatory School/Palm River Training Center) enter as the top seed in tomorrow's racing, which kicks off with the Last 16 races.

Defending men's solo world champion Christopher Bak (Cincinnati, Ohio/University of Cincinnati/Next Level Rowing) enters the Last 16 as the No. 2 seed, having finished behind Spain's Adrian Miramon Quiroga in the time trial.

In the open women's solo event, Cavallo enters the Last 16 round as the No. 3 seed, having posted the third fastest time of the time trial behind Netherlands' Janneke Van Der Meulen and France's Elodie Ravera-Scaramozzino.

The 2023 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals features a record number of 187 crews entered from 39 nations. Click here for the current race schedule and results.

Racing will be live streamed on worldrowing.com on Sunday.

Complete press coverage, athlete bios, and links to event information will be available at www.usrowing.org and www.worldrowing.com. Click here for today's photo gallery. Follow along with the U.S. National Team as it prepares for the 2023 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals by using the hashtags #WorldRowingCoastal and #WRBSF.