New Zealand's beach sprint rowers have their sights set on the 2026 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals in Qingdao, China, with a squad named to carry the silver fern through a busy international season from July to October.
The campaign opens with a training camp in Los Angeles, where the team will get their first look at the venue set to host beach sprint rowing's Olympic debut at the LA 2028 Games. From there, they head to Boston to race against international crews including the United States team, before returning home at the end of July. The World Finals in Qingdao run from 18 to 21 October.
Leading the squad is Emma Twigg, reigning World Rowing Beach Sprint champion after winning the Open Women's Single Sculls in 2025. A two-time Olympic medallist, gold at Tokyo and silver in Paris, she has translated her flatwater dominance into coastal rowing, winning both the Open Women's Single Sculls and the Mixed Double Sculls alongside Mike Brake at the 2026 Rowing NZ Beach Sprint Championships.
Twigg will miss the United States leg of the tour due to injury, with Holly Chaafe stepping in for those races while Twigg targets a return to defend her world title in China.
Matthew Dunham carries the Men's Solo berth after claiming the Open Men's Single Sculls title at the national beach sprint championships. He knows what it takes to win on the world stage, having taken the Mixed Double Sculls title at the 2023 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals. In Qingdao he will compete in the Open Men's Single Sculls, as he will in Boston.
Erin James and Sebastian Fulton make up the Mixed Double pairing. James made her international coastal debut at the 2025 World Championships, a return to international competition after a 17-year absence while raising her three children. At the 2026 nationals she claimed silver in the Open Women's Solo and, alongside Dunham, finished just 0.4 seconds behind Twigg and Mike Brake in the Mixed Double Sculls final.
Fulton is one of the sport's emerging names in New Zealand. He claimed silver in the Men's Senior Single Sculls at the 2026 NZ Rowing Championships before finishing runner-up at the beach sprint nationals, just three seconds behind Dunham, and took a national title in the Coastal Mixed Quad. Asked what draws him to the discipline, he is straightforward: "I think the part I enjoy most about beach sprints is the fact I get to be in the ocean. I grew up spending a lot of time at the beach surfing and fishing so it kinda feels like home."
Coaching the group is Brook Robinson, a former New Zealand Olympian who raced at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 before a medical retirement due to back issues brought his rowing career to an end. He comes to the role after a stint coaching Sydney Rowing Club, where he guided crews through to Henley Royal Regatta, and is candid about the appeal of the discipline. "It's such an unknown discipline still and I love the excitement of trying to figure out what actually makes a fast beach sprint athlete. There's no long-established playbook, so a lot of it is discovery." Maxine Hughes joins the tour as team manager.
Robinson says the squad has impressed him with their commitment despite crews only being confirmed a few months ago. "We've got a real range of athletes, past flatwater rowers, some epic mums, young men and they've all committed together. My goal now is to get us closer and closer as a team over the next few months heading into the World Beach Sprint Finals in China."
