The three-day event offers racing in both beach sprint and open endurance categories and sees the return of several world medallists. In the men’s solo endurance race, defending World Rowing Coastal Champion Adrian Miramon Quiroga from Spain is ready to compete. He will go up against last year’s world bronze medallist from Italy, Simone Martini and the 2014 World Rowing Coastal Champion from Sweden, Peter Berg.

The women’s solo endurance event also includes the defending world champion, Diana Dymchenko of Ukraine. Dymchenko has snatched the world title for the last three years running. In the absence of the French, Dymchenko’s biggest competitor may be Maria Berg of Sweden who finished fourth at last year’s World Rowing Coastal Championships.

The mixed double sculls is also a popular category with 14 crews entered in the endurance race. Diana Dymchenko of Ukraine won the world event last year with partner Yurij Ivanov. She has teamed up with Sergii Gryn this year and the two will certainly be a formidable force. Men’s solo medallist Simone Martini has also teamed up with Alessandra Patelli, a flatwater rower who recently finished with silver medal in the women’s four at the 2020 European Rowing Championships, to take their chances in the coastal event.

In the bigger boats, the Italians have put their top line-up together to compete in the men’s coxed quadruple sculls. They have kept the same line-up that took gold at last year’s coastal championships. On the women’s side, the podium has been dominated recently by Hong Kong China and Denmark. In the absence of these countries, all eyes will be on the competitive line-ups put together by Spain and Italy.

Many athletes are doubling up in the beach sprint event, which is set to take place between the two endurance days of racing. The number of events has some athletes racing up to five times throughout the weekend. The heats of the European Rowing Coastal Challenge get underway on Friday, 23 October 2020. The beach sprints follow on Saturday, with the finals of the endurance racing taking place on Sunday, 25 October.

For more information, please visit the organising committee website here: https://ercc2020.com/

The European Coastal Rowing Challenge is one of the only coastal rowing events to take place during the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 World Rowing Coastal Championships and World Rowing Beach Sprints were set to take place in Oeiras, Portugal and have been rescheduled for the same venue in 2021.

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