We have a New World Champion in the village

Milford on Sea rower, 17 year old Sol Chamberlain-Hyde, along with his rowing doubles partner Leah Saunders, powered their way to winning the World Rowing Beach Sprints Finals Championships in Genoa, Italy on the 15th September 2024.

In an intense side by side gold-medal race against Australia, Sol sprinted up the beach to the finishing buzzer after a strong row together with Leah in the final of the U19 mixed double sculls race. There was only a half a second nail-biting difference determining gold and silver place.

Sol, from Milford on Sea and Leah, 18 from Evesham, had placed themselves in a strong position in the knock-out round after coming second overall in the time trials of the 22 nations in their junior category.

Consequently their knock-out race against Peru was won quite comfortably with a strong lead of 19 seconds for the GB crew. 

Their quarter final race against Turkey was a further strong success, as was their semi-final challenge with Spain; they themselves proving to be a formidable beach sprint rowing nation.

The biggest competition however was found within the A Final against Australia. 

Destined to always be a very close match judging by their previous times set, this was a neck and neck race from beginning to end. Great starts from both teams in choppy conditions, but after a tight buoy turn and expert navigating by Sol in the bow seat, the GB scullers flew in to the beach with a slight edge over their Australian counterparts Forbes and Thomas. Renowned for his lightning sprinting as well as his strong coastal rowing, Sol powered up the beach, launching himself on the buzzer just ahead of Samuel Forbes, to claim the World Championship title.

Supported by fellow Team GB rowers including Charles Cousins (2012 Olympics and Gold Medal winner in the coxed mixed quad) and local Christchurch rower Clare Jamison (silver in the women’s single), Sol, who is the youngest member of the GB Beach Sprints Rowing Team, was clearly ecstatic about his and Leah’s World Championship Gold; “You don’t want to get too optimistic, but deep down we knew we had it in us. We’re thrilled!” he said.

Beach Sprints is a new format of rowing; a power endurance event which requires immense agility both physically and mentally over a short sharp course where anything can happen. Director of Performance for GB Rowing, Louise Kingsley said, “The conditions here across the weekend have been challenging for all crews racing, so it’s impressive to see our athletes coming home with three golds and a silver and Team GB placing second on the medals table overall. With Beach Sprints on the schedule for the LA 2028 Olympic Games, the competition was tough, with athletes from a good mix of Olympic, classic and coastal backgrounds. This event is only going to get tougher and the quality improve as we move through the LA cycle – it’s going to be exciting to see how it evolves!”

Sol made his presence known early on in this year’s Beach Sprints season, winning the U19 English Beach Sprints Championships, jointly winning the Four Nations Championships, and Silver Medallist at the U19 Welsh Championships in Colwyn Bay in August. Additionally, Sol and Leah just missed out on the Bronze medal in the junior mixed double sculls and placed a very credible fourth place position in the European Championships in Poland in June 2024.

A proud member of Lymington Amateur Rowing Club for many years under the excellent captaincy of Hugo Mills, Sol has been training hard throughout the summer with Leah at the British Rowing Coastal Academy based in Studland, under the expert supervision of British Rowing coach, Lucy Hart.

In order to facilitate his GB journey, Sol is looking for sponsorship, as whilst British Rowing support him entirely with coaching, Sol supplies his own blades and has to pay fully for his international trips in order to race and represent Great Britain. In addition to his ‘A’ Levels and working as much as he can at Lymington Sea Water Baths and Solent Rib Charters throughout the summer, training six days a week has meant his time and finances are stretched to the maximum.

Should you wish to make a donation to help support Sol, be it small or large, from an individual or indeed sponsorship from a company, please click here.