It has been anything but usual this quadrennial. With the expected wrap up of the Olympic cycle not taking place due to the postponement of the Olympic Games, the race to the Olympics drags on for one more year. Here’s a look back at the last four years in the men’s double in the hopes of predicting what might happen as we head into the 2021 season.

Recap of last four years: When looking at the World Championship events in the last cycle, it is pretty obvious that the men’s double sculls is a very competitive category. There have been three different World Champion crews and only two crews (New Zealand and Poland) have made it onto the podium twice. New Zealand came into the cycle in 2017 at full speed and took the first world title. France dominated 2018, winning both European and World titles, but the glory was short-lived. The 2019 podium was definitely a surprise when China and Ireland came out of the woodwork to take first and second. This will make the 2021 season even more difficult to predict.

2017 World Championships: NZL, POL, ITA, LTU, NOR, FRA

2018 World Championships: FRA, SUI, NZL, GBR, GER, ROU

2019 World Championships: CHN, IRL, POL, GBR, SUI, ROU

Fun fact: The World Best Time was set by the Sinkovic brothers back in 2014 and it was the first time a double has raced under six minutes. It has not been achieved since.

Closest medal race: The 2019 European Rowing Championships when Poland was just .09 seconds ahead of Switzerland. In this Olympic cycle, unusually, there were no photo finish medal finals in the men’s double sculls.

Must watch: The 2017 World Rowing Championships final was a cracker of a race with the first four crews finishing within two seconds. New Zealand strutted their speed, while Italy raced from behind. Watch it here: https://www.eurovisionsports.tv/fisa/#dm9kOzkyMDMx

Quote of the quadrennial:
“I didn’t know where I was in that last stretch, I just had my eyes closed. It’s an insane boat class. Every crew has stepped up in this field. Throughout the race, there was no settling in to a rhythm, we just stuck to our game plan and went for it at the end.” John Storey (b), New Zealand, gold, 2017 World Rowing Championships

Olympic qualifiers: Eleven crews secured places at the 2019 World Rowing Championships: China, Ireland, Poland, Great Britain, Switzerland, Romania, Netherlands, New Zealand, France, Germany, Lithuania. There are two more available places that will be determined at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland in 2021.

The ramification of the ‘extra year’: The extra year could play a very important role. The double is a nail-bitter category because the most important factor is synchronicity. We’ve seen, as with the Irish, that this can be developed over a relatively short period of time. Yet, with some crews, the advantage of more time rowing together will improve synchronicity and therefore speed. This may help crews like Switzerland, Ireland and even Poland if they decide to settle on a line-up.

Olympic prediction: In one of the most unpredictable boat classes of the cycle, this one is tricky. The Chinese are very fast, but will they send the same crew in 2021? The Irish have incredible talent and speed, but their training has been disrupted by Philip Doyle’s medical training. The Swiss have played around with line-ups, as have the Polish. Both have seen intermittent success. And, of course, don’t forget France and New Zealand.

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