Trials for World Beach Games Continental Qualifier to Take Place Thursday

Spots in the World Beach Games Continental Qualification Regatta will be on the line Thursday at USRowing's 2023 World Beach Games Qualifier Trials on South Lido Key Beach in Sarasota, Fla.

Racing will take place in the women's solo and mixed double sculls boat classes, with the winners earning the right to compete at the Americas Continental Qualification Regatta next month in Lima, Peru. The top two finishers in each event in Peru will earn the right to compete at the ANOC World Beach Games this August in Bali, Indonesia. Click here for more information on the World Beach Games qualification system for rowing. The U.S. has already qualified the men's solo boat class for Bali. Athlete selection for the men's solo will take place at the Beach Sprint National Team Trials June 21-23 in California.

Six scullers are entered in the women's solo event including Next Level Rowing's Cassidy Norton (Hamilton, Ohio/Robert Morris University), who has represented the U.S. in the women's solo at the last two World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals. Next Level Rowing's Morgan Hummel (Chesterfield, Mo./The Ohio State University) and Jeni Sorli (Red Lodge, Mont./University of Colorado) also are scheduled to race. Hummel and Sorli were part of the bronze-medal winning mixed quadruple sculls with coxswain crew at the 2022 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals. Next Level's Elizabeth Hinley (McHenry County, Ill./University of North Texas) is a two-time Beach Sprints National Team member, while Christine Cavallo (Windermere, Fla./Stanford University) won a bronze medal in the mixed quadruple sculls with coxswain at the 2021 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals and is a seven-time national team member across all levels. Next Level's Brooke Downes (Boonton Township, N.J./University of Southern California), who raced at the 2021 World Rowing Coastal Championships, rounds out the field.

Five crews are entered in the mixed double sculls event including four from Next Level Rowing. Sorli will row with Christopher Bak (Cincinnati, Ohio/University of Cincinnati). A two-time Beach Sprints National Team member, Bak won a gold medal in the men's solo event and a bronze medal in the mixed quad at the 2022 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals. Cavallo will row with Kory Rogers (The Woodlands, Texas/Temple University), a two-time team member who was part of the bronze-medal winning mixed quad in 2022. Downes will row with Gary Rought (Mason, Ohio/William Mason High School), who won silver in the junior men's double sculls at the 2022 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals, while Hummel will row with Justin Stevens (Knoxville, Tenn./Vanderbilt University), who raced at the 2022 World Rowing Championships (flat water) in the lightweight men's pair. New Orleans Rowing Club's Hannah Huppi (Bellingham, Wash./Tulane University) and John Huppi (Reston, Va./Tulane University) round out the field. The Huppis were part of the mixed quadruple sculls with coxswain that won a bronze medal at the 2021 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals.

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. Racing is slated to start Thursday at 11:30 a.m. Click here for more event information.

The World Beach Games Americas Continental Qualification Regatta will take place May 3-4 in Lima, Peru. The ANOC World Beach Games is a global multi-sport event created by the Association of National Olympic Committees and first hosted in Qatar in 2019. The second edition of the ANOC World Beach Games will take place August 5-12 in Bali.