Best ever results for GB at 2024 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals 

Great Britain won three golds and a silver medal across the senior, para and junior squads and finished second on the medal table in Genoa, Italy

Louise Kingsley, Director of Performance for the GB Rowing said: “The conditions here across the weekend have been challenging for all crews racing, so it’s impressive to see our athletes coming home with three golds and a silver. With Beach Sprints on the schedule for the LA 2028 Olympic Games, the competition was tough, with athletes from a good mix of Olympic, classic and coastal backgrounds. This event is only going to get tougher and the quality improve as we move through the LA cycle – it’s going to be exciting to see how it evolves!”

Taking gold in a thrilling race, were the GB coastal mixed coxed quadruple sculls, our first ever in this boat class. The crew of Cameron Buchan, Charles Cousins, Heather Gordon, Rosa Thomson and Ryan Glymond (cox) had more power in the finish to take the win ahead of the Dutch. Speaking to World Rowing after the race, Ryan said: “It was frantic. They had a really good start, we started to power past but the Netherlands are a really strong, powerful nation in rowing so it was always going to be a tight race. Those guys nailed the turn and so did we, and then surfing the waves on the way back in, knowing we were pulling ahead, was just the most special feeling.”

The PR3 coastal mixed double sculls inclusion event saw some tough racing between the crews. In the final, Great Britain’s Colin Wallace and Natacha Searson got out fastest and held their advantage to the finish to take gold ahead of the USA. Speaking to World Rowing, Colin said: “We had a week in Jersey before we came out focusing on the turns, the starts, the exits. The big thing I think we did well was dealing with whatever was thrown at us – the conditions, the waves, hitting the buoy, not quite getting the turn – and just being able to roll with the punches.”

Clare Jamison improved on her 2023 beach sprints women’s solo (CW1x) quarter final performance with a brilliant silver medal, finishing behind Austria in the A final. Clare told World Rowing: “It’s pretty great to come out with a silver medal. It’s been a good weekend – all a bit everywhere with the conditions on Friday, but great to be able to race in such a strong field this year. It’s also really exciting to have all the Olympians with us heading into LA 2028. It’s been such an exciting couple of years learning sculling, learning coastal, learning beach sprints. I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes.”

GB also retained the U19 mixed double sculls title won in 2023 (by Isabel Lancaster and Jonathan Martini), with an intense gold-medal win against Australia, who were in the race to the end – but Sol Chamberlain-Hyde sprinted up the beach to hit the buzzer first after a strong row together with Leah Saunders. Sol said: “You don’t want to get too optimistic, but deep down I knew we had it in us. We’re thrilled!”

Boat	Crew	Result
CM1x	Jerry Owen (Nottingham RC/Fishguard and Goodwick Jemima RC)	28th at Time Trial 1 – Time Trial 2 cancelled
CW1x	Clare Jamison (Christchurch RC)
CMix2x	Laura McKenzie (Glasgow University BC) and Sam Scrimgeour (Glasgow RC)	Last round: Knockout
CMix4x+	Cameron Buchan (Edinburgh University BC), Charles Cousins (Mumbles RC), Heather Gordon (Inverness RC), Rosa Thomson (Leander Club) and Ryan Glymond (cox) (Tyne ARC/University of St Andrews BC)
PR3 CMix2x	Colin Wallace (Deeside Scullers) and Natacha Searson (Jersey RC/Tynemouth RC)
CJM1x	Tom Walker (Christchurch RC)	19th at Time Trial 1 – Time Trial 2 cancelled
CJW1x	Olivia Hodgson (RGS Worcester BC)	Last round: Knockout
CJM2x	Ben Snoxall (Reading RC) and Oli Snoxall (Reading RC)	Last round: Quarter final
CJW2x	Lucy Whiteley (Fishguard and Goodwick Jemima RC/RGS Worcester BC) and Caitlin Lockey (Christchurch RC)	Last round: Quarter final
CJMix2x	Leah Saunders (Evesham RC) and Sol Chamberlain-Hyde (Lymington ARC)