"VAN" (Sports Desk - 05.09.2023) :: The Plages des Sablettes in La Seyne-Sur-Mer, France provided perfect racing conditions for the 2023 European Rowing Coastal and Beach Sprint Championships, which drew to a close yesterday.
The first half of the Championships was focused on the "endurance" element of the sport where boats race over a long-distance course, navigating turning buoys and sprinting up the beach to the finish line. Racing is offered for both Club crews and Member Federation crews.
As coastal rowing continues to evolve, some familiar names are establishing themselves in this format of the sport and the gold medals in the Member Federation events were won by well-known rowers. The women’s solo gold medal was won by Diana Dymchenko, and she also won the club solo on the day after, representing Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, there were two gold medals for the mighty Adrian Miramon Quiroga from Spain. On the Friday, he defended his European title in the men’s solo while on Saturday morning he joined forces with Nadia Felipe Garcia to win the mixed double.
On Saturday afternoon, the focus moved to the Beach Sprint element, which is a rapidly growing format providing thrilling racing for competitors and spectators alike. The competition started with a processional time trial for all boats and then moved on to side-by-side knockout racing on the final day.
Across the six boat classes in the beach sprints, eight nations took home medals in total. Italy claimed an impressive three golds with host nation France taking two, and Great Britain the third.
Italy proved their strength in this format with several of their rowers picking up multiple medals. Lucio Fugazzotto was the first gold medallist of the Beach Sprints when he won the Final A of the junior men's solo by 1.80 seconds ahead of Spain’s Marcos Delgado Marquez. Fugazzotto would later claim another gold in the Under 19 mixed double, alongside Maria Lanciano. Lanciano picked up her second medal in the last race of the Championships, when she won silver in the Under 19 women’s solo. There were also two medals for the experienced coastal and flat water rower Giovanni Ficarra. Having won bronze in the mixed double with Maria Condurso, he went two better in the men’s solo, claiming gold ahead of Czechia's Ales Susky.
Host nation, France became European Rowing Beach Sprint Champions in the mixed double when Edwige Alfred and Ludovic Dubuis overcame a very strong and experienced Spanish crew. The second gold for France came in what was the closest race of the Championships when a sprint to the line between France’s Elodie Ravera-Scaramozzino got her to the buzzer just 0.18 seconds ahead of Dutch athlete, Janneke van der Meulen.
While Great Britain had looked impressive in the time trials, things didn’t quite go to plan in the knock-out stages. Their mixed double had been clear winners in the time trial, but in the semifinal, they suffered a capsize in the final stages of their row back to the beach which clearly had a subsequent impact on their performance in the Final B, meaning they placed fourth overall. Meanwhile, women’s solo Clare Jamison was awarded a time penalty in the quarterfinal for not navigating the run flags correctly on the beach, meaning she missed out on a place in the semifinals. There was redemption for the Brits when, in the last race of the day, their Under 19 Women’s Solo, Evelyn Pakule claimed gold.
Speaking at the end of the Championships, European Rowing Board Chair Annamarie Phelps highlighted the significance of the event, saying "Many of you will know that this event marks a significant milestone in Beach Sprints. We all have our fingers crossed for a significant decision by the IOC very shortly, regarding the inclusion of the discipline in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic programme, and we hope that this will be the last event before that happens."
The next event on the coastal calendar is the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals (29 September – 1 October 2023) and the World Rowing Coastal Championships (8-10 October 2023), both taking place in Barletta, Italy.
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