Germany Breaks Spain’s Dominance at the 2026 Coupe de la Jeunesse

German rowers picked up five gold medals, one silver and three bronzes to top the medal table this past weekend at the Coupe de Jeunesse in Figueira da Foz, Portugal. The result perhaps highlights the fact that the Central European country is fast becoming a significant power in beach sprint. Though it only won its first ever beach sprint Coupe de Jeunesse medal, a bronze, last year, it topped the 2025 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals medal table thanks to the success of its youth rowers—all five German medals came in the under-19 category.

The beach sprint version of the Coupe de la Jeunesse has been running since just 2023, but in the competition’s short history, and until this year, only one country had every come top of the table: Spain. In the first year, in Italy, Spain picked up two golds. In the second, at home, it went one better, with three (plus two silvers and a bronze). And last year, again at home, it won four (and a silver and bronze medal).

The full podiums from the first day of the 2026 Coupe de la Jeunesse beach sprint competition were:

U19 CW1x:

1. Marie Zavadilova – Czechia
2. Ella-Solene Chave – Germany
3. Mejse Østergaard Nielsen – Denmark

U19 CM1x:

1. Stanislaw Kopietz – Poland
2. Nikolas Roidmayer – Austria
3. Ludwig Canty – Germany

U19 CW2x:

1. Ella-Solene Chave, Anneke Ihmann – Germany
2. Lena Horetzeder, Cristina Delgado – Spain
3. Elena Schalk, Lisa Schalk – Austria

U19 CM2x:

1. Marcos Casal, Diego Molina – Spain
2. Christian Bala, Christian Candido – Italy
3. Jasper Weber, Ludwig Canty – Germany

U19 CMix2x:

1. Johann Meyer, Carolina Guerra – Germany
2. Lukas Hladik, Veronika Bittnerova – Czechia
3. Weronika Prokopiuk, Jakub Zduniak – Poland

The full podiums from the second day of the 2026 Coupe de la Jeunesse beach sprint competition were:

U19 CW1x:

1. Carolina Guerra – Germany
2. Magdalena Vlastnikova – Czechia
3. Rita Araújo – Portugal

U19 CM1x:

1. Stanislaw Kopietz – Poland
2. Lukas Kasik – Czechia
3. José Azevedo – Portugal

U19 CW2x:

1. Ella-Solene Chave, Anneke Ihmann – Germany
2. Mejse Østergaard Nielsen, Amalie Thal-Drexe – Denmark
3. Elena Schalk, Lisa Schalk – Austria

U19 CM2x:

1. Marcos Casal, Diego Molina – Spain
2. Daniel Bodini, Max Linhart – Italy
3. Jasper Weber, Ludwig Canty – Germany

U19 CMix2x:

1. Jasper Weber, Anneke Ihmann – Germany
2. Ondrej Zizka, Marie Zavadilova – Czechia
3. Josephine Schlesinger, Jakub Zduniak – Poland

U19 Mix Relay:

1. Cristina Delgado, Diego Martinez, Lena Horetzeder, Marcos Iglesias – Spain
2. Daniel Bodini, Maka Antoni, Maz Linhart, Eleonora Lelli – Italy
3. Weronika Prokopiuk, Stanislaw Kopietz, Josephine Schlesinger, Jakub Zduniak – Poland