Portugal Hosts Beach Sprint Finals and Coastal Championships

Two weeks of coastal rowing wrapped up on October 2, as Oeiras, Portugal, hosted the 2021 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals and 2021 World Rowing Coastal Championships on the Praia da Torre in late September and early October.

Fielding its first-ever Beach Sprint National Team, the U.S. sent boats in eight of the nine events and came home with two medals, winning silver in the junior mixed double sculls and bronze in the mixed coxed quadruple sculls.

Beach Sprint racing is contested in a run, row, run combination over a 250-meter, out-and-back buoyed course and uses a time trial and knock-out progression system.

After finishing third in the time trial, the junior mixed double of Britt Wotovich and Brian O'Leary opened the knock-out round racing with a victory over Germany and then easily advanced in the semifinals against the hometown favorites from Portugal. In the final, France was able to run a clean course to bring home the gold in a 2:49.87. Wotovich and O'Leary finished in a 3:06.33.

"We heard about this around May of this year, and we said, 'Well, let's give it a shot,'" O'Leary said. "States and regionals and nationals were coming to an end, and it was going to be a summer of long training. This really gave us a direction to point our training in. It was a great, fun experience."

In the mixed coxed quad, the U.S. crew of coxswain Bennett Rossell, John Olbrys, Christine Cavallo, Hannah Huppi and John Huppi defeated Sweden to claim the bronze medal. The U.S. raced neck-and-neck with Sweden the entire way through the out-and-back course. The Americans hit the beach on the return with a slight lead, but John Huppi lost his footing on the exit from the shell. However, he was able to recover quickly and won the sprint back to the finish line, finishing 0.21 seconds ahead of Sweden in a 2:26.31 to win the bronze.

The medal was a great cap to the weekend of racing.

"The team support from the coaches to the staff to the boat handlers have all been absolutely professional, excellent," John said. "I have never been on a team this supportive before – all the way to the junior athletes. This (was) an incredible team environment."

Wotovich and O'Leary also raced in the junior solo events, with Wotovich reaching the B finals of the junior women's solo and finishing fourth overall. O'Leary and the other four U.S. boats were knocked out in the quarterfinal round.

With Beach Sprints ending on Sunday, September 26, the local organizers flipped the course to the distance format for the start of the World Rowing Coastal Championships on Thursday, September 30. The coastal races were run over 6k and 4k courses.

Unlike the Beach Sprint format, countries are allowed multiple entries in the Coastal Championships and boats represent club teams. The U.S. had nine entries race in the three-day event, including several athletes who raced at both the Beach Sprint Finals and Coastal Championships.

Five of the nine U.S. crews reached the finals with Great Miami Rowing Center's men's coxed quad of coxswain Bennett Rossell, Kory Rogers, Chris Bak, Marc Oria and Ben Booth recording the top finish, placing sixth overall with a time of 24:01.90. Ukraine's SO RC "Dnipro" ZCU won the gold medal in a 22:40.91, with the Czech Rowing Association and Great Britain's UL Tyrian Club winning silver and bronze, respectively. Great Miami stayed in contention for a medal through the third turning buoy, trailing UL Tyrian by just a canvas as the crews worked their way back towards the beach. But the GB crew, which included British Tokyo 2020 Olympic medalist Jack Beaumont, was able to pull away over the final third of the course to secure the bronze.

Based in Hamilton, Ohio, Great Miami's women's coxed quadruple sculls of Rossell, Elizabeth Hinley, Brooke Downes, Cassidy Norton and Hannah Huppi finished ninth, crossing the finish line in a 30:00.15. Ukraine's ZCU National Guard easily won the race in a 27:29.70, pulling away from the rest of the field to win by nearly 20 seconds. France's Libourne won the silver medal, with Spain's R.C. Mediterraneo De Malaga taking the bronze medal. Long-time U.S. National Team members Molly Bruggeman and Vicki Opitz raced in the stern pair of Great Britain's UL Tyrian Club, finishing fifth.

Two U.S. boats made the A final in the women's solo event, with Bair Island Aquatic Center's Hannah Wayment-Steele finishing 14th and Park City Rowing Academy's Dayna Deuter finishing 16th. In the women's double sculls A final, Newport Aquatic Center's Hillary Saeger, a seven-time, flat-water U.S. National Team member, and Erin Roberts, a 2015 National Team member, took 15th.

Next year, both the beach sprints and coastal championships will be held in Saundersfoot (Wales), Great Britain.