Latest Rankings Offer Insight Into 2026 Beach Sprint Worlds

We now know who will be competing in the senior solos and mixed double at the 2026 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals (the global federation published the entry lists yesterday), but, of course, not quite who might be crowned champion in those important Olympic events. Wild Rowing’s updated world rankings, however, might provide some critical insight. (If you want to skip straight to that analysis, click here.)

We’re offering a slightly modified version of our rankings below to include only the athletes competing in Qingdao, China, this year. We’ve also made some adjustments so that we include rowers outside of the top 32, including unranked athletes, and to add a little more information, we’re also adding in both their rankings. What that means is that while, say, in the men’s solo you’ll see their solo ranking (and points) first in the table, you’ll also see their mixed double ranking. This can help identify athletes whose primary ranking is low, but whose secondary ranking is higher.

Our rankings have been updated to include the most recent key regattas (such as the European and Oceania continental championships), but also the 2025 African championships. Because the 2026 edition of those won’t take place before worlds, we wanted to avoid underrepresenting African athletes. (You can find more information on how we calculate our rankings here.)

Understanding exactly how these rankings might translate into results isn’t easy. They’re based on both results and participation in international regattas, and with beach sprint more developed in Europe than elsewhere, there may be, as a result, a rankings bias towards European rowers. But that bias might not be truly unfair. We believe that competition boosts competitiveness, and these athletes will have greater recent experience in important races.

Regardless, beach sprint being what it is, there is always the possibility of upsets, and there are many unknowns. In the mixed double competition, there will be a total of six unranked women and seven unranked men. In the women’s solo there will be four, and in the men’s that number jumps to 11 (or almost a quarter of the men’s solo’s 48 competitors).

Mixed Double

The clear favorites in the mixed double are the reigning world champions Martyna Kazlauskaite and Dominykas Jancionis. The two Lithuanians only tried beach sprint for the first time in 2024, and went on to win both the European and world championships that year, before defending their world title in 2025. And this year they will try to do what no one has done so far in the short history of beach sprint: win three world championships in a row.

Their biggest local rivals, the German mixed double of Moritz Wolff and Julia Tertuente that kept the Lithuanians off top spot at European championships, will be competing only in the solos in China. The USA’s Sera Busse, a silver medalist alongside Chris Bak in 2025, is ranked second among women, but will be racing this year with Kory Rogers instead. Portugal’s Patricia Batista and Afonso Duarte Costa are both ranked third on their respective lists, and behind them are a host of teams in the hunt, including Australia, France, Italy, Peru and Poland.

Two key athletes that may be slightly out of position are Germany’s Franz Werner and Spain’s Teresa Díaz, ranked third in the men’s and women’s solos, respectively. Their mixed double results may not put them anywhere near as high, but they could be worth keeping an eye on.

Men’s Solo

Last year, the USA’s Chris Bak defeated Spain’s Ander Martín in the A final to win his third world title in the men’s solo. (Like the Lithuanian mixed double, Bak has a chance to make it three-in-a-row this year.) Since then, Bak has added the 2026 Americas championship, and Martín recently picked up the 2026 European crown. Owing perhaps to a slightly stronger racing schedule, Martín has risen to the world No. 1 spot, but the numbers are impossibly close: Martín has 2,080 points to Bak’s 2,000.

Below the leading two there is a similarly interesting tie between Germany’s top rowers. But world No. 3 Franz Werner (1,480 points) is switching to race in the double, meaning No. 4 Moritz Wolff (1,440 points and the European mixed double champion) returns to the men’s solo at worlds. Last year Wolff finished fourth following a tough semifinal with Martín.

Lithuania’s Zygimantas Galisanskis comes next, and with a strong top-five ranking in the double as well, and Egypt’s Omar Elkomaty, the reigning African champion, is close behind. But the ranking points drop-off below then begins to get relatively significant, highlighting the unknowns of worlds, and especially of the men’s solo.

Women’s Solo

We won’t get a replay of last year’s A final in China this year, because while Austria’s world No. 1 Magdalena Lobnig will be there, New Zealand’s reigning world champion Emma Twigg won’t. Twigg is still working through rehabilitation after picking up an injury earlier this year.

Instead, we’re likely to see the four quarterfinalists from the European championships battling out for top spot. Lobnig, Great Britain’s Laura McKenzie, Spain’s Esther Briz—2026 European champion—and Lithuania’s Raminta Morkunaite are all ranked in the world’s top five, with more than 1,000 points each. Morkunaite also has a significant position on the mixed double table.

Leading rivals trying to upset those four will include Australia’s Isabella Scammell and Peru’s Pamela Patricia Noya Reyes, who like Morkunaite have shown significant success both in the solo and the double this year. The progress of Germany’s Julia Tertuente will be interesting to watch, too. Tertuente is ranked top five in the double, and won the European championship in that boat with Moritz Wolff.