The 2021 World Rowing Coastal Championships starts today at Oeiras in Portugal. Photo: World Rowing/Benedict Tufnell

30 September 2021

By Göran R Buckhorn

Time for rowers to splash around in the waves again.

Just when we got used to the end of successful World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals, it's all over us again. Now as the 2021 World Rowing Coastal Championships, also at Praia da Torre in Oeiras, Portugal.

Some of the rowers we saw last weekend at the Beach Sprints have stayed put in Portugal and are ready to have a go at the Coastal Championships. They will be joined by coastal rowing specialists, but also by some so-called flat-water rowers, who came home from the Tokyo Olympic Games a few weeks ago – some of which HTBS have mentioned in a previous article.

Athletes from 34 nations will gather in Oeiras for the World Rowing Coastal Championships, and some rowers have travelled from far-away places as Japan, New Zealand and the USA. The men's solo (that is single sculls in coastal rowing lingo) will see more than 70 participants, among them the 2019 champion Adrian Miramon of Spain (no Coastal Championships in 2020), making it the largest boat class at this event.

The first races will start today, Thursday, 30 September, at 10:30 CET.

The provisional timetable for the event can be found here.

Entries are available here.

Available on WorldRowing.com:

  • Livestream of all races – also available on World Rowing's YouTube Channel
  • Live event updates and Live Blog
  • Start Lists / Schedule
  • Results

News, photos and videos will be available on www.worldrowing.com

For behind-the-scenes interviews, live updates, photos and more, go to World Rowing Facebook, Facebook Coastal, Twitter and Instagram 

World Rowing has published an article, "Who to Watch – 2021 World Rowing Coastal Championships" of possible medal contenders at these Championships.

Rumors have circulated if and when coastal rowing will be an Olympic sport, and which boat classes would disappear from the Olympic waters? Mike Rowbottom straightens out some question marks in his 28 September article on the Inside the Games website. He wrote:

Jean-Christophe Rolland, President of World Rowing, is increasingly confident that open-water coastal rowing will make its Olympic debut at the Los Angeles 2028 Games in place of lightweight races [men's and women's lightweight double sculls].

Read Mike Rowbottom's article here.