This year’s World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals in Qingdao, China, will be supported by five different boat manufacturers: Empacher, Falcon Racing, Filippi, NEXT Boatworks and Swift Racing. This marks significant diversification from last year, when there were three official boat suppliers, Filippi, Kanghua and Swift.
Storied German boat builder Empacher launched its first coastal rowing boats last year in a partnership with Spanish manufacturer Rubenetti. The three under-19 doubles events (men’s, women’s and mixed) will all use Empacher boats.
Falcon Racing is one of two Chinese manufacturers that will support this year’s world championships (alongside Swift). It will provide boats for the under-19 women’s solos.
Filippi is perhaps the boat best associated with beach sprint, having been the exclusive supplier of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals from 2021 to 2023. This year the mixed senior events (double, inclusion double and coxed quad) will all use Filippi.
NEXT Boatworks is a U.S.-based manufacturer that focuses solely on building coastal boats. It will supply boats for the under-19 men’s solos.
Swift Racing has long been the rival to Filippi within beach sprint, and perhaps for this reason the two companies will share the Olympic events at this year’s Finals. The senior solos (men’s and women’s) will both use Swift at Qingdao 2026.