The metamorphosis of Fintan McCarthy is now complete. From double Olympic lightweight rowing champion, to competing against the bigger boys in the boat, McCarthy is also exactly where he needs to be.
Approaching the midway spin in the latest Olympic cycle – and the further distancing from the discontinued lightweight events – the Skibbereen rower will compete for the first time in the heavyweight single at this weekend’s opening World Cup regatta of the season in Seville.
This doesn’t mean McCarthy has emerged as a significantly bigger, stronger, or somehow unrecognisable version of his previous self. Within months of winning gold in the lightweight doubles with Paul O’Donovan in Paris in 2024 – defending their Olympic title won in Tokyo three years previously – McCarthy was walking around at his essentially natural weight of 79kg.
“And it’s still pretty similar, haven’t seen much change in the needle there,” he says. “I think I’d have been around there naturally in the wintertime anyway, as a lightweight. So to be in my best shape fitness-wise at that weight now, putting out some of the efforts I am at the moment, bodes well.
RM Block
“The main thing to remember is there’s a power-to-weight conversation in rowing. It’s not all about putting out huge watts. I’ll definitely be able to go faster than someone who is heavier than me, if I can have a few more watts per kilo, just row a bit better.
“Height and size is not all it’s cracked up to be in rowing. It kind of goes against the grain, but we’ve really dug into the biomechanics of things, the physiology, just trying to maximise that for our size. Rather than try change our mentality.”
As a lightweight, McCarthy couldn’t exceed 72.5kg in competition (for the doubles, the average weight had to be 70kg). Last year, still adjusting to the unlimited heavyweight, he won doubles bronze with Konan Pazzaia at the European Championships, before winning two medals at the World Championships in Shanghai – bronze with Philip Doyle in the doubles, and gold in the new mixed doubles, along with Mags Cremen.
“Historically, our focus in training is a lot to do with the fitness,” he says of the minimal adjustments to the heavyweight training. “If you’re doing hundreds of kms a week, it’s pretty hard to pack on a huge amount of muscle mass. We just stuck to what we know, and having those numbers improve is the most important kind of marker for us.
“Last year gave everyone that bit of insight into how we can go a bit faster against the bigger guys. And it feels like I’ve got a new lease of life in the sport in general, switching to heavyweight last year. Now trying to get the single going. It’s lots of new things, lots to be excited about.”
It also spares McCarthy the dreaded “weight cut”, come competition time, and finding that thin line between peak performance and physical bust.
“It definitely got harder as the years went on. Having to balance a full-time training programme, trying to improve, which needs fuel and calories. Then also trying to restrict that so you can lose weight. It’s a really fine balancing act. And towards the last few years, I fell off one end, or the other, in terms of illness, stuff like that.
“It’s just nice to not have to cut weight. There’s just a consistent build, throughout the season, rather than it kind of stagnating, once we have to come down to race weight.”
McCarthy turned 29, last November, and is among the eight Irish crews selected for Seville, which starts on Friday. Fiona Murtagh will also begin her 2026 campaign as the world champion in the women’s single.
He hasn’t competed with O’Donovan since Paris, as his fellow Skibbereen rower focuses on his medical career, but he fully expects they’ll be back in the same boat before LA.
“We had a few rows together on training camps over Christmas, so that was a nice little reunion. I don’t think we’ll be rowing again together this year, but I think the intention is always to be there in LA.”
Rowing Ireland crews for World Rowing Cup I Seville
Lightweight Women’s Single Scull: Izzy Clements; Women’s Single Scull: Fiona Murtagh; Men’s Single Scull: Fintan McCarthy; Women’s Double Scull 2: Alison Bergin, Sophia Young; Women’s Double Scull 1 (W2x): Zoe Hyde, Mags Cremen; Men’s Pair (M2-): Adam Murphy, Fionnán McQuillan-Tolan; Women’s Four: Natalie Long, Claire Feerick, Emma Fagan, Imogen Magner; Men’s Quad Scull: Konan Pazzaia, Andrew Sheehan, Ryan Spelman, Martin O’Grady.
