British rowing at the Olympics used to be all about the men’s coxless four who maintained an incredible winning streak across five Olympics over two decades. That chain was broken painfully at Tokyo in 2021. At the time, some interpreted this as symptomatic of a crisis in the British rowing team that won just two medals: one silver, one bronze. Yet just three years later that break seems to have liberated the team from a legacy that had become more of a burden than advantage and kickstarted some overdue modernisation. This summer, it’s genuinely difficult to say which is our “top boat” because there is a broader spread of talent across boat classes than there has ever been.
There are reigning world champions in the women’s quadruple sculls, the men’s eight and men’s coxless four (old habits die hard). The lightweight women’s double sculls of Imogen Grant and Emily Craig have an incredible unbeaten record since their race in Tokyo where they finished fourth in a blanket finish that saw them miss out on a medal by one-hundredth of a second. They have displayed remarkable levels of technical proficiency to dominate an event for three years where all the athletes weigh the same.
