{"id":30438,"date":"2026-05-27T12:37:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T12:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/30438\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T12:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T12:37:09","slug":"fintan-mccarthy-to-make-heavyweight-single-debut-in-seville-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/30438\/","title":{"rendered":"Fintan McCarthy to make heavyweight single debut in Seville \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The metamorphosis of Fintan McCarthy<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

Approaching the midway spin in the latest Olympic cycle \u2013 and the further distancing from the discontinued lightweight events \u2013 the Skibbereen rower will compete for the first time in the heavyweight single at this weekend\u2019s opening World Cup regatta of the season in Seville.<\/p>\n

This doesn\u2019t 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\u2019Donovan in Paris in 2024 \u2013 defending their Olympic title won in Tokyo three years previously \u2013 McCarthy was walking around at his essentially natural weight of 79kg.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it\u2019s still pretty similar, haven\u2019t seen much change in the needle there,\u201d he says. \u201cI think I\u2019d 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main thing to remember is there\u2019s a power-to-weight conversation in rowing. It\u2019s not all about putting out huge watts. I\u2019ll 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeight and size is not all it\u2019s cracked up to be in rowing. It kind of goes against the grain, but we\u2019ve really dug into the biomechanics of things, the physiology, just trying to maximise that for our size. Rather than try change our mentality.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a lightweight, McCarthy couldn\u2019t 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 \u2013 bronze with Philip Doyle in the doubles, and gold in the new mixed doubles, along with Mags Cremen.<\/p>\n

\"Ireland’sIreland\u2019s Mags Cremen and Fintan McCarthy celebrate winning gold in Mixed Double Sculls at the 2025 World Rowing Championships in Shanghai. Photograph: Detlev Seyb\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cHistorically, our focus in training is a lot to do with the fitness,\u201d he says of the minimal adjustments to the heavyweight training. \u201cIf you\u2019re doing hundreds of kms a week, it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year gave everyone that bit of insight into how we can go a bit faster against the bigger guys. And it feels like I\u2019ve got a new lease of life in the sport in general, switching to heavyweight last year. Now trying to get the single going. It\u2019s lots of new things, lots to be excited about.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also spares McCarthy the dreaded \u201cweight cut\u201d, come competition time, and finding that thin line between peak performance and physical bust.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just nice to not have to cut weight. There\u2019s just a consistent build, throughout the season, rather than it kind of stagnating, once we have to come down to race weight.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2019s single.<\/p>\n

He hasn\u2019t competed with O\u2019Donovan since Paris, as his fellow Skibbereen rower focuses on his medical career, but he fully expects they\u2019ll be back in the same boat before LA.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a few rows together on training camps over Christmas, so that was a nice little reunion. I don\u2019t think we\u2019ll be rowing again together this year, but I think the intention is always to be there in LA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rowing Ireland crews for World Rowing Cup I Seville<\/p>\n

Lightweight Women\u2019s Single Scull: Izzy Clements; Women\u2019s Single Scull: Fiona Murtagh; Men\u2019s Single Scull: Fintan McCarthy; Women\u2019s Double Scull 2: Alison Bergin, Sophia Young; Women\u2019s Double Scull 1 (W2x): Zoe Hyde, Mags Cremen; Men\u2019s Pair (M2-): Adam Murphy, Fionn\u00e1n McQuillan-Tolan; Women\u2019s Four: Natalie Long, Claire Feerick, Emma Fagan, Imogen Magner; Men\u2019s Quad Scull: Konan Pazzaia, Andrew Sheehan, Ryan Spelman, Martin O\u2019Grady.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The metamorphosis of Fintan McCarthy is now complete. From double Olympic lightweight rowing champion, to competing against the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[15164,15165,15166,109],"class_list":["post-30438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-seville","tag-fintan-mccarthy","tag-rowing","tag-rowing-ireland","tag-seville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}