QINGDAO, China, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- China won four gold, three silver and one bronze medal to top the standings at the 2026 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals on Tuesday, with Liu Jiayu overcoming an equipment failure to win the men's solo title.
Liu established an early lead against Australia's Samuel Forbes before his boat's sliding seat came loose. He recovered to overtake Forbes and claim gold in 2 minutes, 46.97 seconds.
"Since I had practiced dealing with unexpected situations like a seat coming loose during training, I could handle these challenges and fight back for victory," Liu said, adding that he hoped to achieve a strong result at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Beach sprint rowing, which combines running on sand with rowing through open water, will make its Olympic debut at Los Angeles 2028, with men's solo, women's solo and mixed double sculls contested.
In the women's solo final, Australia's Isabella Scammell took gold ahead of China's Zhu Wenjie and Austria's Magdalena Lobnig. Zhu had earlier beaten European champion Esther Briz Zamorano of Spain in the quarterfinals and Portugal's Bruna Parente in the semifinals.
"I've been rowing for about 10 years now and this is by far the most fun I've had rowing," Scammell said.
Germany's Franz Werner and Sophie Leupold defeated two-time champions Lithuania to win the mixed double sculls, with Poland taking bronze.
China's other three gold medals came in under-19 events. Yuan Zihao and Zhao Xu won the men's double sculls, Zhu Weiwei claimed the women's solo title, and Su Juntao and Liu Lili triumphed in the mixed double sculls.
In the mixed coxed quadruple sculls, the United States defeated China in the final, giving four-time world champion Christopher Bak a gold medal after his men's solo title defense ended in the quarterfinals.
Bak praised China's young rowers and expressed hope that beach sprint rowing could help strengthen sporting exchanges between China and the United States. ■
