Single Sculls, Men

Considered favourites heading into this event were Oliver Zeidler, the 2021 European champion, as well as 2019 World and European Champion Sverri Nielsen of Denmark and Kjetil Borch of Norway. Others to watch were Croatia’s Damir Martin, the silver medallist at the 2016 Olympic Games, a young up and coming Canadian Trevor Jones, two time under-23 World Champion, as well as veteran Mindaugas Griskonis of Lithuania, participating in his fourth Olympics. In addition, Greek rower Stefanos Ntouskos had served notice he might be peaking at the right time by winning the event at the last Olympic qualifying regatta.

Things held more or less to form in the heats, with the favourites moving through to the semi-finals. It was here that the first surprises occurred, with perhaps the top favourite, Zeidler, failing to make the final by just over half a second, being edged out by Aleksandr Vyazovkin, representing the Russian Olympic Committee. The young Canadian, Jones, also failed to advance. In the final, Borch got out quickly, being followed closely by Nielsen, but before long the Greek, Ntouskos, made a big push to take the lead and never looked back. Nielsen challenged for a spell, but Ntouskos held him off to claim the gold, while Borch overtook Nielsen to place himself in second. The real battle emerged for third, where Martin put on a final push to edge Nielsen for the bronze, in a photo finish. A great day for Greece, as they won their very first gold medal in rowing (aside from in the unofficially recognised 1906 Intercalated Games), and in a new Olympic best time.