Back to Bak to Bak

By Martin Cross

Team USA delivered a sensational set of results on the final day of the World Beach Sprints Championships. And that man from Cincinnati, Chris Bak, was right at the heart of an incredible medal haul.

On the sun-kissed waters, just off the beach in Antalya, Turkey, the 29-year-old was almost unstoppable. In the final of the singles, he beat his great friend and rival, Ander Martin of Spain, to win his second world title in a row, third in the event, and fourth overall.

Then just two hours later, Bak and his partner, Sera Busse, took a brilliant silver in the mixed doubles, losing out to the Lithuanian world champions in the sprint up the beach by centimeters.

The Stars and Stripes hadn’t stopped being waved over the beach all morning. Early on Sunday, the USA mixed quad powered to a convincing victory over their Spanish opponents.

These championships showed why Beach Sprints is such a game-changing addition to the Olympic program. Before I had immersed myself in the world of Beach Sprints, I thought it came in a pale second to exciting new Olympic events like kayak cross, where paddlers launch off a ramp that’s 4.5 meters high. That contest was a smash hit at the Paris Games, but if promoted properly, Beach Sprints could be the standout event at LA 2028.

There is significantly more jeopardy, and therefore excitement, for the spectators and viewers in Beach Sprints. And so much of that was on display in the Antalya championships.

Take just one of the semifinals of the men’s solo. The German Olympic oarsman Moritz Wolff was head to head against Martin of Spain. And the man from Berlin had a narrow edge on his rival at every stage of the course—until dramatically, with just meters to go before Wolff was going to win a final spot, the 25-year-old stumbled on the sand, his legs failing to carry him to the victory that was so close to his grasp. Anders passed by a prostrate Wolf to win a place in the final.

The jeopardy is there because the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals are raced within a 45-minute window. There’s practically no time for the athletes to rest or recover. So the lactic acid builds up in the muscles after a pulsating 80-meter dash over the golden sand of the Antalya beach; the sprint up to over 50 strokes a minute on the outward 250-meter leg into the ocean; the swerves to right and left around the slalom buoys; and then the shock of stopping dead for the 180-degree turn at the top of the course.

If the athletes have any energy left, it’s a sprint back to the beach, heart rates through the roof again, ending with a splash and rapid exit from the boat. Then an exhausting 80-meter sprint back to the red buzzer.

The closeness of Martin’s semi against Wolff probably meant the Spainard had little to give against Bak, who had controlled his semi more effectively against Mathis Nottelet of France. Endurance is such a crucial issue in this event.

Just as crucial for the viewers and spectators is to watch the whole event unfold. Don’t make the mistake I did of just dipping in to watch the A final because you will miss all the thrills and spills of an incredible contest over the three final rounds.

Moreover, if you’d caught the earlier rounds, you’d have noticed that the men’s solo was notable in that the two finalists were both coastal specialists. There were some big names from flat-water rowing whose reputations were left on the sands of Antalya.

The Kiwi Finlay Hamill, finalist in the Diamond Challenge Sculls at Henley and winner of the Head of the Charles, set off at a furious pace but messed up his navigation on a slalom buoy in his first head-to-head contest.

The Australian Olympic fours champion from Tokyo, Spencer Turrin, went out to Lithuania’s Zygimantas Galisanskis, an experienced coastal competitor.

The same was not the case with the women’s solos, though. There, the final was contested by two legends of the sport: Emma Twigg of New Zealand and Magdalena Lobnig of Austria. Twigg had looked in great form through the championships, fastest in the time-trial round and serene through the early knockouts and quarterfinals.

The Tokyo Olympic champion’s only error came when she misjudged the jump into her boat at the start of her semifinal against the Scot Laura McKenzie. The British athlete led out. But Twigg was fearsome on the 180-degree turns.

“Today I decided I was going to take the turns pretty hot,” Twigg said, “and it worked out for me.”

On the other side of the draw, Lobnig had arrived at the championships following a night spent in a cell at Antalya airport because of a visa irregularity. The Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist had to fly back to Austria, get her papers in order, and return to Turkey. It was hardly the ideal preparation for the 2024 world Beach Sprint champion. But the 35-year-old clearly improved each day. In the quarterfinals, she dispatched the USA’s Christine Cavallo in a tight contest.

By the final, Lobnig was flying. There was little to choose between the two scullers on the outward leg. Twigg had just shaded the sprint, but Lobnig was not fazed. It was the 180-degree turn that proved crucial. The 38-year-old Kiwi came out with a length’s advantage and began to pull away.

At the finish, the 2025 champion gave her thoughts: “LA seems a long way away, especially at my age. But I’m loving it.”

Lithuania’s mixed double of Martyna Kazlauskaite, and Dominykas Jancionis were clearly loving things, too. The 2024 world champions in the mixed double (an event on the program in LA) displayed incredible endurance, holding ratings of 50 or more for much of the 500-meter course. They had seen off Poland and France to reach the final. Waiting for them would be the Green Racing Project athlete Sarah Busse, just out of the USA quad from the Shanghai World Rowing Championships, and Chris Bak—about to embark on his sixth race of the day.

On the surface, it looked like mission impossible. But Bak and Busse had other ideas. They recovered from a slower sprint to lead at the turn by the narrowest of margins. For the first 100 or so meters back to the beach, it looked like Lithuania’s high rating would take them away. But as they approached the beach, Busse and Bak found something. The afterburners went on, and the U.S. crew hit the beach almost level. It looked like Bak might outsprint Jancionis. The American made a full-length dive for the buzzer and missed out by just 0.24 seconds. The race was incredible.

The USA mixed quadruple scull was more dominant in its contests. The quad is not in the Olympic program, but the importance of a strong squad to choose from is clear. So Malachi Anderson, Audrey Boerson, Annelise Hahl, and Kory Rogers, together with cox Coral Marie Kasden, can consider themselves key parts of Team USA’s Olympic setup. And their victory over Spain in the gold-medal race was never in doubt.

For the crowds, too, it was an amazing atmosphere, where the spectators have the chance to experience a much closer relationship with the competitors than is possible in flat-water rowing. That much is apparent when leading athletes run in ahead of their opponents and have the chance to salute and acknowledge the crowd. The word most mentioned is the Beach Sprint “vibe.” With music pumping out, the atmosphere is joyous.

Part of Sunday’s crowd were the U19 athletes who had finished their finals the day before. The men’s contest was especially memorable as, on this very beach, during the European semifinals a month before, the Spanish athlete’s legs had given way. He had collapsed on his final sprint into the buzzer—while in the lead.

This time, though, Ignacio Ramon-Borja Garcia’s nerve, and legs, held. He took the gold from Germany’s Felix Krones. France’s Lou Phillipe took gold in the women’s U19, and Austria took a brilliant gold in the U19 mixed doubles event.

The U19 racing was thrillingly close and gave the crowd the chance to see what a crucial role boat handlers play in this sport. Often former coastal rowers turned coaches, they play a crucial role in helping athletes into the boat, giving them a push off the beach, and steering them around the buoys by using their arms. They are like Formula One pit crews, and their participation adds a brilliant dimension to this sport.

The USA’s boat-handling team shared in all the glory of those Sunday medals. And it’s no exaggeration to say that, with less than three years to go until the crews line up on the sands of Long Beach to go for Olympic gold, it’s the USA that has taken an early advantage.

The Next Level rowing program run by Marc Oria has benefited not only Chris Bak but also Kory Rogers, who was part of the winning quadruple. Oria had taken his team out to the European championships–in Antalya—where they raced in the coastal endurance event so they could get used to the conditions ahead of the worlds.

 For Niki Van Sprang, a Dutch Olympic oarsman doing the post-race interviews for World Rowing, it was an amazing experience, and not just because it was Van Sprang’s first exposure to Beach Sprints.

“The course and beach are cool, the atmosphere is cool, and the athletes are super cool,” he said. “Just before the men’s final, there was Chris Bak and Anders Martin sitting next to each other and chatting. Then Anders put his head gently on the shoulder of Chris. It was a beautiful gesture that typifies the relationship between the athletes, and what’s so great about this sport.’

Let Bak, a student of authors like Eckhart Tolle and Paulo Coelho have the last word.

“It’s a title that’s only borrowed; I’m happy to borrow it one more year. This competition is insane. Every competitor this year was absolutely phenomenal.” 

The post Back to Bak to Bak appeared first on Rowing News.