Callum Dreyer won the men’s solo coastal beach sprints at the 2026 Youth Olympic Games on Tuesday, beating Spain’s Diego Molina Martínez in the final in 2:15.65 to give Team South Africa its first gold medal of the Games.
He is 16, a Grade 10 learner at Hilton College in KwaZulu-Natal, and South Africa’s only rower at these Games.
He had been racing coastal beach sprints for about five months. He went in unranked, with no international racing behind him, and most of the field was a year older.
Callum Dreyer’s Route To Gold At The 2026 Youth Olympic Games
- Time trials, Saturday: fourth of 32. Beach run 7.87 seconds, rowing leg 2:35.94 in choppy water. Fourth place put him straight into the last 16.
- Last 16, Monday: beat Lithuania’s Justas Domarkus 2:19.71 to 2:21.43, after trailing out of the beach run and pulling him back on the water.
- Quarter-final, Tuesday: beat Czechia’s Ondřej Zizka by 0.14 seconds in 2:24.52, the second-fastest of the four quarter-finals, with his oar stuck in the sand at the start.
- Semi-final, Tuesday: beat Hungary’s Adam Moor 2:29.35 to 2:46.79.
- Final, Tuesday: beat Spain’s Diego Molina Martínez in 2:15.65.
The quarter-final, semi-final and final were all run inside an hour, in heat.
His 2:15.65 in the final was the quickest time of the whole competition. According to Team South Africa’s race report, the next-best time recorded at the event was Moor’s 2:23.57, which is 7.92 seconds slower.
- 🥇 Callum Dreyer (South Africa)
- 🥈 Diego Molina Martínez (Spain)
- 🥉 Adam Moor (Hungary)
What Are Coastal Beach Sprints?
Coastal beach sprints put a short run across the sand in front of a row out around a buoy and back, with one clock running over the whole thing. Getting the boat into and out of the surf is part of the race, not a formality around it.
The men’s solo event was making its Youth Olympic debut at these Games. The discipline is on the programme for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Fifteen Months Between The First Row And The Gold Medal
Dreyer started rowing at Hilton College around the middle of 2025, on flat water, coached by Ernie Steenkamp. The school’s rowing group runs to about six athletes, and they share classes and living quarters.
He moved across to coastal beach sprints roughly five months before the Games, with KZN Coastal Rowing Club in the Durban area.
His coach there was Avlyn Gallwey, who travelled to Senegal as his coach, his boat handler and Team South Africa’s rowing manager.
The way in was ordinary enough. He went to watch a Durban Beachfront Regatta, did a camp at Midmar, then spent Sunday after Sunday at Vetch’s Beach learning beach entries, exits, turns and how the ocean behaves when you are carrying a boat into it.
His only national medals before Dakar came at the South African Rowing Championships earlier this year, in the under-16 ranks: silver in the single sculls, silver in the double with Luke Goodenough, and gold in the coxed quad with Markus Steenkamp, Goodenough, Kai Davenport and cox Otsile Moncho.
He is the son of Martin Dreyer, a seven-time winner of the Dusi Canoe Marathon.
He spoke to Team South Africa on the sand at Saly Beach afterwards.
“I am so proud to win this medal for South Africa” – Callum Dreyer
He said it was his first time competing in coastal beach sprints and that he grew more confident with every race, and he thanked his coaches and the Team South Africa staff.
He also said the win had given him an appetite to go further. His goal going in had been to enjoy the experience.
Team South Africa’s Medal Count After Tuesday
Dreyer’s gold was South Africa’s fourth medal of the Games. Leah Markgraaff had taken silver in the girls’ 400m freestyle, the boys’ rugby sevens side had taken silver, and Chanel Veldsman had won bronze in the 200m breaststroke.
Veldsman added silver in the 100m breaststroke later on Tuesday, which took the tally to five: one gold, three silver and one bronze heading into Wednesday.
Team South Africa sent 46 athletes to these Games, and the programme runs until 13 November.
Dreyer has school exams waiting at Hilton College when he gets back.
