Typical. You wait all year for an international regatta, then three come along at once. Blades broke water in anger in early September at the 2020 European Rowing Under 23 Championships held in Duisburg. The first of a trifecta of European champs, it was followed in quick succession by first the 2020 European Rowing Junior Championships, held later that month in Belgrade, then by the 2020 European Championships in Poznan in October.
Coming less than 300 days before the Tokyo Games, Poznan offered us a brief snapshot; a mid-term report on the progress teams have made under the extraordinary circumstances brought about by Covid-19, and 14 months after their last showing at the 2019 World Rowing Championships in Linz. Whilst the odd wobbly start and ill-paced performance showed some were more rusty than others - and temperature scanners and face masks made a novel addition to the World Rowing boat park - on the water the racing remained largely, and reassuringly, familiar.