U.S. Picks Up Gold, Silver, and Bronze Medals on Final Day of 2022 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals, Spain Racks Up Four

The final day of the 2022 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals concluded with a smattering of tough conditions, including some that required the coastal women’s solo event to be canceled.

“Disappointing, I would have loved to go out and experience some rough conditions,” New Zealand’s Emma Twigg told World Rowing. “Everyone wants to complete all of the rounds, but I guess safety is paramount, so what can you do? It’s coastal. We went out there (in the repechage) to win as fast as we could because you never know what happens in coastal, and it’s all about setting up your lane draws as well.

“It’s been an amazing couple of weeks, and it’s certainly made me realize that this is something that I’d like to keep doing. A little more practice and some fine-tuning of skills, and hopefully, we’ll get to the real finals another year.”

For the U.S. the final day of racing was a productive one, including a gold medal finish from Christopher Bak in the coastal men’s solo event, a silver medal in the under-19 coastal men’s double, and a bronze in the under-19 coastal women’s double.

“Honestly it hasn’t sunk in yet. As soon as I saw my coach Mark I just started shedding tears. It’s amazing, an amazing team, amazing parents who support me back home,” Bak told World Rowing. “Last year there was a bit of bad luck. Props to Gio (Giovanni Ficarra, ITA), since last year he was probably one of the most gracious competitors. We kept in touch all year, kept each other motivated. This year it was the same. You never know what’s going to happen out there, just because of the conditions.”