Historic First Gold Medal and Record Performances for Rowsellas at World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals

The Rowsellas have produced their best-ever World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals campaign in Qingdao, China, headlined by New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) athlete Isabella Scammell winning gold in the Coastal Women’s Solo event.

The Australian Beach Sprint Rowing Team won one Gold, two Silver and one Bronze medal across an incredible final day of racing, with World Champion Scammell’s win securing Australia’s first-ever gold medal in the World Beach Sprint Finals.

Adding to Australia’s impressive medal tally was Sam Forbes and Maddison McLaughlin who both won silver in the Coastal Men’s Solo and U19 Coastal Women’s Solo events respectively. Forbes then teamed up with Elizabeth Newell, Dan Johnston, Catherine Khan and Ryder Taylor (NSWIS) to win bronze in the Coastal Mixed Quadruple Sculls.

The successful results from this World Beach Sprint Finals also represent an important step towards LA28 where Coastal Rowing makes its Olympic Games debut, with athletes training and competing through a national high-performance pathway backed by the enduring commitment of Hancock Prospecting and Rowing Australia Patron Mrs Gina Rinehart AO.

Rowing Australia Performance Director Paul Thompson MBE congratulated the whole team on their performances throughout the event:

“It’s been wonderful to see the coming of age of the Rowsellas Beach Sprint Team. It’s been an outstanding team performance with seven of the nine competing athletes coming home with medals.

“Golden Bella Scammell was magnificent as was super Sam Forbes coming home with two senior medals, back-to-back bronze medals in the mixed quad and Maddi McLaughlin’s mastery of the surf.

“These results don’t come without outstanding coaching and committed and skilled support staff. Today was great and as the team come down from Qingdao they will have their sights firmly on next year’s qualification for LA2028.”

Rowing Australia Beach Sprint Head Coach James Loveday was thrilled to see athletes excelling on the world stage:

“What a day! Once a year we get to see rowers earn World Championship medals and today our team rose to that opportunity. To watch Bella be crowned world champion, see Sam rise from 7th in the time trial to claim the silver in the Men’s Coastal Solo, and witness a bronze in the Coastal Mixed Quad demonstrated true depth in our senior team.

“To also see Maddi McLaughlin step up for an U19 Coastal Women’s Solo silver shows the class that exists in Australian rowing. Beach sprint is a true team event and behind each medal is a team of coaches, boat handlers and support staff who make things happen. I couldn’t be prouder of every single person on this team.”

Senior Events

It was a dream Rowsellas debut for Isabella Scammell in the Coastal Women’s Solo, winning Australia’s first-ever World Beach Sprints gold medal. Scammell, who was fastest in the time trials, proved too strong for Hungary’s Vivien Preil in the Last 16 and got the better of USA’s Chrstine Cavallo in a nail-biting quarter final with a margin of just 0.41 seconds separating both competitors.

Scammell comfortably won her semi-final before facing hometown favourite Wenjie Zhu in the Gold Medal race. The final lived up to the hype, with Scammell producing an impressive run (02:53.03) to beat China (02:57.08) and secure Australia’s first-ever World Beach Sprint Gold medal.

Speaking to worldrowing.com, Scammell said of her experience, “It’s been amazing… Really grateful to be here, really grateful for all my coaches, for all my peers. It’s just amazing to be here.”

Queensland’s Sam Forbes won silver in the Coastal Men’s Solo delivering blistering performances, with the pick of the races his quarter-final win over three-time Men’s Coastal Solo World Champion Chris Bak (USA). Neck and neck for most of the race, 20-year-old Forbes showed experience well beyond his years to hold off Bak and claim victory.

A comfortable semi-final win over Portugal set up a Gold Medal race against Jiayu Liu (China). The two competitors were inseperable for the majority of the race before Liu pushed ahead in the final stretch to claim the win, giving Forbes a well-earned silver medal.

Forbes then secured his second medal of the World Beach Sprint Finals, teaming up with Elizabeth Newell (QLD), Dan Johnston (NSW), Catherine Khan (ACT) and coxswain Ryder Taylor (NSW) in the Coastal Mixed Quadruple Sculls.

The crew produced the fastest time across the quarter finals (02:42.97), beating Turkiye and setting up a semi-final clash with defending champions USA. The US crew proved too strong in the semi-final, however the Rowsellas bounced back in the Bronze medal race with a solid performance to beat Germany and secure third place. It’s now back-to-back bronze medal finishes for the Rowsellas in the Coastsal Mixed Quadruple Sculls after claiming third place in the 2025 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals.

In the Coastal Mixed Double Sculls, Oscar Scheel Gamborg (NSWIS) and Isabella Scammell recorded an impressive 02:36.66 in their Last 16 clash, however it was not enough to beat eventual gold medallists Germany (02:32.38).

Junior (U19) Events

Maddison McLaughlin was in great form throughout the U19 Coastal Women’s Solo, securing her passage to the Gold Medal race with wins over Austria, Spain and Czechia. McLaughlin’s quarter-final match up against Marina Lopez Sempere (Spain) was one of the races of the event, with both athletes almost inseparable until the buzzer, where McLaughlin won by just 0.55 seconds.

McLaughlin went into the Gold Medal race against Weiwei Zhu (China) and took an early lead against the local favourite. However, Zhu showed her strength to power home and win the race (02:59.52) from McLaughlin (03:07.78).

McLaughlin then paired up with Harrison Braithwaite (ACT) in the U19 Coastal Mixed Double Sculls, producing a solid win over Austria’s Alexander Rittenbacher and Esther Schoeberl in the Last 16 to qualify to the quarter-finals where they faced China.

McLaughlin and Braithwaite delivered another strong performance, but were unable to get the better of their opponents.

Earlier in the event, Braithwaite qualified through time trials in the U19 Coastal Men’s Solo where he was beaten in the Last 16 by Austrian Nikolas Roidmayer.

For full results and information on the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals, visit the World Rowing website.

Photo Credit: Balint Czucz