When discussing men's pairs, there has been a tendency for the writing to be on the wall long before we get to the Olympic final. Eight years of domination by Drew Ginn and various partners early in the 21st century, eight more years domination by Kiwis Hamish Bond and Eric Murray, and now the charmingly chirpy Croatian brothers Martin and Valent Sinkovic, who decided to mix it up in the pairs for four years after claiming doubles gold in Rio. Unfortunately, they didn't see the COVID pandemic and a consequent fifth year coming, otherwise they might have thought twice. The Sinkovics have been beaten but not often: the odd minor race here and there, plus the 2017 worlds and 2020 Europeans, which yielded only silvers. The rest has been golden all the way. There were some surprises in the early rounds of the Tokyo regatta, the New Zealand and Australian silver and bronze medallists from 2019 failing to make the final, while Denmark's pair of Frederic Vystavel and Joachim Sutton, who were the last to qualify for the Olympics two months earlier, did reach the medal race. Romania's Marius Cozmiuc and Ciprian Tudosa, who had conquered the Croatians at the Europeans, won their semi while also logging the quickest tim to date on the Sea Forest Waterway, which amounts to provocation where the Sinkovics are concerned.