China claims four golds at World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals

On October 20, all medals were decided at the 2026 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals in Qingdao. The Chinese team delivered a steady overall performance, winning 4 gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze medal in the nine events it entered, making it one of the standout teams of the day.

Beach sprint is a competition format of coastal rowing. Athletes start on the beach, board their boats, row a prescribed course at sea, return to the beach and run to the finish line. In 2023, the International Olympic Committee announced that coastal rowing beach sprint would be included in the official program of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, with three events: men's single sculls, women's single sculls and mixed double sculls.

Affected by the weather that day, the organizing committee adjusted the schedule and compressed all 10 events into a single day. The schedule changes and frequent rounds posed greater challenges to athletes’energy allocation, on-the-spot adjustment and mental resilience. Athletes from various countries responded calmly and showed good competitive form, while the exciting head-to-head contests drew repeated cheers from the spectators. After successive rounds, the champions of each event were decided.

China's rowers quickly adapted to the competition arrangements and steadily advanced in each event, securing medals in multiple events. In terms of the distribution of results, medals came in both senior and youth categories: Liu Jiayu won gold in the men's single sculls; Zhu Weiwei won gold in the youth women's single sculls; Su Juntao and Liu Lili won gold in the youth mixed double sculls; Zhao Xu and Yuan Zihao won gold in the youth men's double sculls; Zhu Wenjie won silver in the women's single sculls; Gong Jiale and Li Lele won silver in the youth women's double sculls; Li Juanjuan, Zhao Yecheng, Tan Rukai, Gao Hongze and Guo Yizhu won silver in the mixed quadruple sculls with coxswain; and Bu Boren won bronze in the youth men's single sculls.

It is worth noting that Liu Jiayu put in a particularly impressive performance in the men's single sculls gold medal race. He took a strong early lead, was overtaken midway after his boat's seat board unexpectedly fell off, and then overtook his rival at the decisive moment to win the title, demonstrating the mental toughness of a Chinese athlete at a critical moment. "I feel very proud because I kept this gold medal in China," an excited Liu Jiayu said after winning. "I started at 4 a.m. every day preparing for the competition, all for this moment. Winning makes everything worth it."

Chinese team leader Li Tiankai said in an interview with the media that the Chinese team's overall performance at this competition exceeded expectations. "Many young athletes have made considerable progress. After being tempered by more international competitions, their future is worth looking forward to. Beach sprint rowing will have three gold medals at the Los Angeles Olympics. We hope that through this period of international events, we can continue to test and train the team and strive to stand on the top podium at the Olympics."

The event was hosted by World Rowing and jointly organized by the Chinese Rowing Association, the Shandong Provincial Sports Bureau and the Qingdao Municipal People's Government. It was held in the waters off Golden Beach in the Qingdao West Coast New Area and is one of the highest-level international single-sport events for beach sprint worldwide, attracting 303 athletes from 52 countries and regions. On the blue sea and golden sands, the athletes rode the waves and pulled their oars, testing the results of their training amid high-intensity consecutive competition and gaining valuable practical experience from a major event.