Advertisement League of Ireland Horse Racing TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture Rugby Weekly Extra Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week The Football Family Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points Advertisement More Stories Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy with their gold medals at the Olympics last year.Morgan Treacy/INPHO 'Coming up against Paul was funny. I'm so used to our routine' Fintan McCarthy talks about the changes he has faced since making the switch to heavyweight rowing. 6.04pm, 15 Jul 2025 Share options THIS HAS BEEN a year of experimentation for back-to-back Olympic gold medallist Fintan McCarthy. Adjusting. Tweaking. Figuring out new routines. An opportunity to reinvent the wheel while always keeping the usual standards of excellence in mind. The transition from lightweight rowing to the heavyweight class was one such challenge to face. Before, a typical race week would involve aiming for 69kg as a lightweight rower. Now, without any weight restrictions to worry about, he’s walking around at 77 kilos. “It’s actually way more fun when you’re not hangry,” he says about one of the adjustments he’s faced this year. Seeing an old face become an opponent was another. And with that, McCarthy also had a new face to greet him in the boat. Despite the many changes, McCarthy already has two bronze medals banked in 2025. The switch-up is clearly suiting him. “This year was always going to be about figuring out what is worth zoning in on for the next few years for improvement. We knew we were pretty close, as lightweights, to the medals in the heavyweight category. “It hasn’t been too much different in terms of training. It being a non-Olympic year as well, training hasn’t been terribly consistent. It’s actually been very positive.” Advertisement Two-time Olympic gold medallist Fintan McCarthy.David Fitzgerald / SPORTSFILE David Fitzgerald / SPORTSFILE / SPORTSFILE Last August, McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan made Olympic history. The Skibbereen duo were crowned back-to-back champions in the lightweight double sculls at the Paris Games. They were the first Irish Olympians to successfully defend their title since Pat O’Callaghan’s 1932 success. With the lightweight class being discontinued as an Olympics category, the pair made the switch to heavyweight rowing. That transition resulted in new partnerships being formed. McCarthy won his bronze medals alongside Konan Pazzaia at the European Rowing Championships, and the World Rowing Cup II in Lucerne. O’Donovan has been sharing the boat with Daire Lynch who won an Olympic bronze medal alongside Philip Doyle in the men’s double sculls last year. The two boats raced against each other in Lucerne. And while McCarthy and Pazzaia finished on the podium, the O’Donovan-Lynch crew crossed the line in fifth place. “Coming up against Paul was funny,” McCarthy explains with a smile when asked about that experience. “I’m so used to our routine.” There weren’t any face-offs, or stare downs. Nobody attempted any psychological warfare. This wasn’t an unusual situation for them either in one sense, but it did force McCarthy to take extra care with keeping his mind on task. “We’re used to racing each other at training. I think because you’re so used to it, it can kind of take you out of the moment that you’re actually in. You kind of have to bring yourself back and remember that you’re in a World Cup and you’re not just lining up against the lads for a training session. “Paul and Daire are very good racers, so you’d always kind of be on high alert when racing them. “We were all sitting together at dinner and getting ready for the final at the same time. It was like we were all going to race together but then when we went to pick up the boat, we were just going to two separate boats.” McCarthy and O’Donovan have been able to get the band back together on other occasions in 2025. Along with Lynch and Pazzaia, the crew raced in a quadruple together at the Henley Royal Regatta earlier this month. They defeated a highly-rated Dutch crew to reach the semi-final where they were defeated by a strong British outfit. “We didn’t lose to them by as much as we thought we would, which was really positive. “They actually ended up winning the final by more than they beat us by. So we were pretty happy with that just because we went into it as more of a experience rather than aiming to win it. “It was really good to be honest, especially because that’s not a boat we’re used to. It’s kind of novel.” McCarthy and Pazzaia had no real experience of rowing together before this year, but the former was well versed on his new partner’s pedigree. Born in Switzerland, Pazzaia joined Rowing Ireland’s high performance pathway in 2020. He was at the final Olympic qualification regatta last year and was also a training partner for Daire Lynch and Philip Doyle. “We didn’t really come together till the trial in April. We did a few switches and we found that to be the quickest boat. So we went from there and did the Europeans and the World Cup and I think we might do another set of trials in a few weeks time just to solidify what we’re going to do for World Championships. “It’s been a nice change. And especially seeing as it’s a new category for me as well. It was sort of just like a fresh everything.” Trials in the next few weeks are the next thing on McCarthy’s mind as crews are finalised for the World Rowing Championships in Shanghai this September. More chances to acclimatise. More time for trial and error. Fintan McCarthy was speaking at an event to announce SPAR and EUROSPAR as Official Retail Partners to the Olympic Federation of Ireland. Sinead Farrell Viewcomments Send Tip or Correction Embed this post To embed this post, copy the code below on your site Email “'Coming up against Paul was funny. I'm so used to our routine'”. Recipient's Email Feedback on “'Coming up against Paul was funny. I'm so used to our routine'”. Your Feedback Your Email (optional) Report a Comment Please select the reason for reporting this comment. Please give full details of the problem with the comment... This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy before taking part. Leave a Comment Submit a report Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines. Damaging the good reputation of someone, slander, or libel. 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