Recent announcements have given us much to be excited about. The Sinkovic brothers, Olympic champions and masters of social media, had us all guessing with a Twitter post in which they forewarned of a ‘big announcement’. As many of you will now know they did not disappoint, with the surprising news that they are leaving the doubles event, in which they won Olympic gold at Rio, to contest the pair. An unprecedented and unexpected move that will be fascinating to watch if they stick with it to Tokyo.
Perhaps the Croatian brothers were speculating on news that, on the other side of the world, Hamish Bond has swapped two oars for two wheels, choosing to compete in men’s cycling - for 2017 at least. After 69 consecutive wins, could the New Zealand pair of Murray and Bond finally be making way for a new pair to take on the mantle? Eric Murray is sitting the year out to recover from knee surgery, so for now we shall have to wait and see. October/November were busy months for us. We spent 3 weeks on the East Coast covering the Head of the Charles and the Head of the Schuylkill. We spent time with the Great Eights in Boston, which also gave us the opportunity to bring New Zealand’s Mahe Drysdale and Croatia’s Damir Martin together to watch and commentate on their Rio singles final: the closest rowing race in Olympic history. You can read what they had to say on page 60.