How do you define greatness? A mind-bending feat that surpasses expectation and rationality? A moment of authentic surprise that inverts the weight of pressing odds? Or perhaps an incision in the linear unfurling of your heart?
In sport, we are quick to anoint greatness upon each other. A performance that impresses us is often bestowed the virtue of greatness before it can even truly be understood. It is easy to attach brilliance onto bravery and boldness but sometimes the two should not be conflated. True greatness should combine mastery, magnanimity and more than a hint of magic.
The Olympic Games is our ultimate magic show. A procession of truly elite talent, operating at the pinnacle of their sport and thrust forward into a limelight fostered by four years of relative translucency. These two weeks are stitched into the very fabric of competition, dating back to the lore of Ancient Greece, and have transcended the politics of modern society to become the ultimate marker in sporting excellence. To win Olympic Gold gives you immortality of a rare and timeless specification – your story will be perpetuated forevermore, carried forward by the whispers of generations to come, who too aim to climb those sacred steps and join this club of champions. Emerging over the horizon, this time in the blue and red hue of palatial Paris, we are ready for the very fastest in rowing to be crowned.
Step forward, my friends – The Olympic Games have come.
Croatia – Martin Sinkovic and Valent Sinkovic
Much like swimming, equestrian or athletics, rowing’s appeal is muted outside of Olympic season, with peripheral fans only tuning in once every four years as they flick through the various sports available to them over the Games. As such, few athletes have managed to break through rowing’s fourth wall and connect with an audience larger than the self-confessed rowing nerds: the Sinkovic brothers are a rare example of exactly that.
Initially in the double scull, Martin and Valent’s first international engagement together was at World Rowing Cup I in 2008, where they finished third in the B-final. They continued to row together throughout their U23 years, finding success in the quad alongside David Sain and Damir Martin. This now-famous unit raced at almost every opportunity as they progressed up the FISA categories, winning a plethora of silverware along the way, including a silver in London.
The Sinkovics made the switch back to the double for the 2014 season, with Damir moving to the single. They remained unbeaten across the 2014, 15 and 16 seasons (including in Rio), before swapping two blades for one and trying their hand in the pair – perhaps seeing opportunity to fill the void left behind by the Kiwi pair that retired at the close of the 2016 season.
Initially, these efforts were successful, as bar a couple of small missteps, the duo remained on the podium at every race between 2017 and 2021, capping-off an incredible run of success with a gold medal in Tokyo. Post-Olympics, they moved back to the double and continued to hoover-up medals, only finishing off the podium once at the 2022 world championships.
Perhaps seeking a new challenge, the brothers flipped back to the pair this season, but haven’t had the success they may have hoped for. Outgunned by the British, Swiss and Danish at World Rowing Cup I, they fell to fourth, a position they once again found themselves in at the second World Rowing Cup where, in Denmark’s absence, Romania demolished any hopes of a medal for the Croatians. It was the same story at the European championships, with only the depleted field at World Rowing Cup III giving them the chance to win silver.
Returning to the pair may have been a mistake for this duo, and will likely cost them a medal in Paris.
South Africa – John Smith and Christopher Baxter
A new-look, perhaps unlikely pairing out of South Africa has been punching above its weight this season, and may well get closer than anyone else outside the top three to a medal in Paris.
Former-lightweight John Smith already has an Olympic gold to his name, having won in London as part of the phenomenal South African lightweight four. He remained in the four until the class was axed after the 2013 world championships, and – like many of his peers across the globe – made the switch to the lightweight doubles. Here, although sometimes inconsistent alongside his then-partner James Thompson, he found good success, winning the 2014 world championships and always knocking on the door of the podium across the circuit.
Following a disappointing fourth-placed finish in Rio, Smith left the lightweight scene to pursue a spot in the openweight men’s four for the Tokyo Olympic cycle – again, an Olympiad marred by inconsistent results.
His move to join the 24-year-old Baxter in the pair appears to be a sensible one. Baxter is a long-time pairs specialist, having won the 2022 U23 world championships after previously being selected for the RSA junior and U23 teams in 2017, 18 and 19. Following his move to the senior team in 2022, he won gold in the men’s four at World Rowing Cup I the following year, though his luck ran-out at the third World Rowing Cup, finishing in the C-final.
This pair’s results have so-far been promising: sixth at the 2023 world championships, and fourth at World Rowing Cup II (by far the most representative race of the season), puts them in a strong position ahead of the Games. A medal there isn’t completely off the table for the South Africans.
Italy – Davide Comini and Giovanni Codato
Since stepping into the pair together for the 2022 world championships, Comini and Codato have been making steady progress up the field. Unable to break out of the B-final until 2024, the pair have since stubbornly hung on at the bottom of the medalists’ finals, finishing sixth at World Rowing Cup I and the European championships, though they withdrew after the heats at World Rowing Cup II.
Davide Comini previously partnered Simone Fasoli in the Italian junior men’s pair for the 2017 and 2018 junior world championships, finishing fifth in the latter. Codato meanwhile first joined Comini when they were both selected for the U23 eight in 2021, where they missed out on a medal and were dropped to fourth.
The 2024 season has been a positive one for the Italian pair: if this momentum continues, they should find themselves lining up for the A-final in Paris.
Romania – Florin Arteni and Nicu Chelaru
The Romanian team has a storied history of regularly re-spinning the wheel of crew selection, a defining characteristic when many of the country’s peers are steadfast, if not stubborn, in the makeup of their boats. The combination of Arteni and Chelaru is the latest iteration of a Romanian pair that only two years ago won the 2022 world championships.
Since they won that race, however, one has to wonder if the Romanian team have forgotten about the boat. For the European championships, Arteni was partnered with Florin Lehaci: a combination which seemed to be well-developed and produced a silver medal finish in Hungary. Both Arteni and Lehaci also raced in the eight over the same weekend, securing third.
Lehaci for his part clearly impressed Romanian team leadership enough to win a spot in the eight for Paris, whilst Arteni was moved into the pair and partnered with Chelaru, who – prior to World Rowing Cup I when he raced the eight – had not been selected for the squad since 2022, when he finished fifth with the eight at the 2022 European championships.
This boat has the potential to be a strong pairing, but is clearly not a priority for the Romanian team – they’re an outside bet for a spot in the A-final.
Ireland – Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney
A more settled combination from Ireland comes courtesy of Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney, two young stars on the rise within the Irish camp.
Corrigan made his international debut with a B-final finish in the four at the 2019 U23 world championships; a result he converted to a silver medal two years later in the same event. Timoney took Corrigan’s seat in that crew when the latter moved up to the senior squad, with Timoney coming home third at the 2022 championships.
We first saw this duo together when they limped home to sixth at the 2023 World Rowing Cup, a performance which made their bronze medal finish at the 2023 world championships all the more astonishing. In that race, Corrigan and Timoney managed to battle their way through strong competition from Romania, the US and South Africa to secure the last step on the podium – and even put the British under pressure for silver. World Rowing Cup I this year saw them slip back to the top of the B-final, whilst in Lucerne at the second World Rowing Cup, they managed to claw their way into the A-final.
This Irish unit is an exciting combination with a proven track-record of success at senior, U23 and junior level, though an A-final finish in Paris may be just out of reach.
New Zealand – Daniel Williamson and Phillip Wilson
The New Zealand men’s pair is part of a unique club of categories and nations that are inextricably tied together: the GB men’s four, American women’s and German men’s eights all have exceptional histories, often dominating their categories over multiple Olympic and world championship cycles.
We’re unlikely to see a performance from the New Zealand pairing of Williamson and Wilson that will be reminiscent of the glory days of Murray and Bond, though we have seen promise over recent races.
Phillip Wilson first joined the national team in 2014 for the junior world championships, and remained with the squad throughout his junior, U23 and senior career. Between 2018 and 2021 he raced in the eight that fought its way through the field to win gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, having been forced to qualify via FOQR after a torrid world championships in 2019.
His partner, Williamson, was a late addition to that 2020 eight, and after claiming gold in Tokyo, stepped away from the sport before he returned to reunite with Wilson in the pair for the 2023 season. Since rowing together, the pair has seen steady improvement, rising from a C-final finish at World Rowing Cup III in 2023 to a bronze medal at this year’s third World Rowing Cup, albeit with the latter being a significantly weakened field.
With a huge amount of Olympic experience on-board, it’s impossible to totally discount the New Zealanders, though I struggle to see a world in which they unseat one of the top three and secure a medal.
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