Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS)-supported athletes Sam Forbes and Liz Newell have claimed world championship silver and bronze medals as part of Australia’s best-ever campaign at the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals in Qingdao, China.
Twenty-year-old Sam Forbes produced a brilliant run through the Coastal Men’s Solo competition to secure silver, before joining fellow Queenslander Liz Newell in the Coastal Mixed Quadruple Sculls to win bronze.
Forbes’ path to the individual podium included an impressive quarter-final victory over three-time Men’s Coastal Solo world champion Chris Bak of the USA. He then defeated his Portuguese opponent in the semi-final to earn a place in the Gold Medal race against China’s Jiayu Liu.
The pair were locked together for much of the race, before Liu surged ahead in the closing stages to take gold and leave Forbes with a well-earned silver medal.
Forbes wasn’t finished there.
He joined Elizabeth Newell, Dan Johnston, Catherine Khan and coxswain Ryder Taylor in the Coastal Mixed Quadruple Sculls, where the Australian crew recorded the fastest time of the quarter-finals at 2:42.97.
After overcoming Türkiye in the quarter-final, the Rowsellas fell to defending champions USA in the semi-final before bouncing back to defeat Germany in the Bronze Medal race. The result secured a second consecutive world championship bronze for Australia in the event, following third place at the 2025 World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals.
The Australians finished the championships with one gold, two silver and one bronze medal, with seven of the nine competing athletes leaving Qingdao with medals.
The results provide an exciting glimpse towards LA2028, where Coastal Rowing will make its Olympic Games debut.
With two senior world championship medals in Qingdao, Sam Forbes and Liz Newell have put Queensland firmly among the athletes to watch as the sport continues its journey towards the Olympic stage.
