Thomas Mackintosh, New Zealand (Bronze)
Mackintosh is another sweep turned sculler. He was part of the outstanding Kiwi men’s eight that won gold at the Tokyo Olympics. He made his senior debut whilst still an U23 in 2018, finishing 15th in the coxless four. He continued in the four in 2019, improving the result by one place. His breakthrough came in 2021 when he was selected for the eight and, after winning the Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta, they won an historic gold at the Games. Post-Tokyo, he moved into the pair with fellow gold medalist Matt Macdonald. They had reasonable success, winning the Silver Goblets and Nickalls’ Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta and making the A-Final at the 2022 world championships. In 2023, he made the decision to move to the single and had an immediate impact, winning a bronze medal in his first race at the Lucerne 2024 World Rowing Cup and then repeating the feat at the world championships. This season, he’s raced at both the second and third 2024 World Rowing Cups, making the A-Final on both occasions and winning his first ever singles gold medal in Poznan. Unlike a lot of his compatriots, he chose to study in New Zealand both as an undergraduate (at the University of Canterbury) and as a post-graduate (at Massey University). After Paris, he will be continuing his studies at Oxford where he has already been elected as President of the University Boat Club.
Simon Van Dorp, Netherlands (Silver)
The Dutch have been the thorn in Zeidler’s side for the past couple of seasons. A Dutchman was the only one to beat the German last season (Lennart Van Lierop at the Europeans) and this season another Dutchman, Simon Van Dorp, is the only one to have pushed the world champion off the top step of the podium (alright, I know World Rowing doesn’t use podiums, but you know what I mean). Van Dorp is part of a truly outstanding Dutch men’s sculling squad, all of whom stand chances of winning big medals in Paris. He’s also slightly unusual in that he came to sculling from sweep. A graduate of the University of Washington, he spent the majority of his international career as part of the Netherlands men’s eight. He won U23 world gold in 2016 and 2017 and was in the senior eight for the rest of the Tokyo Olympiad, winning a silver medal at the 2019 Worlds and then finishing fifth at the Olympics. He switched to the sculling team post-Tokyo and was part of the quad that finished fourth in 2022. He really made his mark on the sculling stage in 2023 when, perhaps surprisingly, he was selected as the single for the world championships. Even more surprisingly, in his first international single competition, he won the silver medal behind Zeidler. This season, he has again shown he is a real challenger to Zeidler, finishing second behind the German at the opening 2024 World Rowing Cup and then overhauling him in Lucerne to take the win by almost a second. If Van Dorp does take the gold, it’ll be the Netherlands first Olympic men’s single title since Jan Wienese won in Mexico in 1968 (indeed, that is so far the Netherlands’ one and only Olympic M1X medal).
Oliver Zeidler, Germany (Gold)
Zeidler has won the World Championships for three consecutive years, a feat only achieved by two other men, Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand and Ondrej Synek of Czechia. He’s also won just about everything else there is to win in single sculling – with the exception of the Olympic Games. He struggled with the conditions in Tokyo and was disappointed to “only” finish in seventh. However, three years later and his well-publicised difficulties in rough water seem, mostly, behind him. He was only beaten once in 2023, losing in the final of the European championships to Lennart Van Lierop of the Netherlands, and 2021 Olympic Champion, Stefanos Ntouskos, of Greece. This season he has also only been beaten once, and it was by another Dutchman, Simon Van Dorp, who pushed Zeidler into silver at the Lucerne 2024 World Rowing Cup. Zeidler took the unusual step of competing at Henley Royal Regatta this season, whilst all his main rivals were on training camp, but he loves the Regatta, and the challenging conditions it can present. His win made him the first man since Seán Drea in 1975 to win three Diamond Challenge Sculls titles in a row. Should Zeidler accomplish his dream of winning gold in Paris, he will become the first German since Thomas Lange in 1992 to take the title.
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