THERE were days this year when simply making it to training felt like a victory for Fintan McCarthy.

‘Sometimes a win for me was getting through the doors at the training centre for a while,’ the Skibbereen rower admits.

It’s a revealing admission from a double Olympic champion.

But 2026 has been a challenging year for McCarthy, one that tested him and even had him wondering if he needed to step outside the rowing bubble for a breather. In terms of the Olympic cycle, this was the year to stay on dry land. But the pull of the water was too hard to resist.

‘There were points during the year I was kind of thinking maybe I should have a break. It’s just been a hard enough time.’

Then came the World Championships in Amsterdam last month, and another unfamiliar feeling: disappointment.

McCarthy missed out on the A final in the single sculls, finishing fourth in his semi-final – his first World championships without a final appearance since he reached this level for the first time in 2018. Leaving a lot on the water that day, he then came fifth in the B final to finish 11th in the world.

Unusual territory for the second most decorated rower in Irish history.

But, strangely enough, that hurt might be exactly what he needed. It can be harnessed, forged and put to work.

Fintan McCarthy is focused on his targets for 2027.

‘Training had been going pretty well,’ he says of the run-in to the Worlds.

‘I was up there pretty much on prognostic speeds with the girls’ double (Mags Cremen and Zoe Hyde) and Fiona (Murtagh), who both absolutely smashed their regattas.

‘Because I had that belief and that expectation, it’s always the thing where if you’re going to be ambitious, you have to open yourself up to that, and there’s a risk that you are going to be disappointed.’

He shared his hurt in an emotional interview after the semi-final. The Skibb man was holding back the tears, but that showed something: despite all he has achieved, this still matters. He still cares.

‘Coming to terms with it, I felt lucky that I was in a position where I did want it that much again,’ he explains.

‘To be back in a position where I was really wanting it, and to be able to be that disappointed, I think was good.

‘Honestly, I probably did think it was going to work out, because I was feeling so good in camp and feeling good through the rounds. I was kind of happy that it felt like I was back, you know? So, it was just tough to be on the wrong side of it this time. But, yeah, still great learnings.’

That realisation can spark what’s to come. He knows he still wants this. Badly. But he knows what he needs to do, too.

‘The lessons are there in terms of, I don’t think I can let myself go that much anymore,’ he says.

‘I did think at points during the year, “Oh, I’ll be fine.” And it wasn’t 100 percent there in training. If you’re going to try and win a gold medal, you have to be on it every day, or as many days as you can.

‘It was good to remember that, and learn that lesson again, just because it has been so long since it hasn’t kind of worked out.’

Perhaps McCarthy is being too hard on himself right now. The high standards he holds heighten his own expectations, but the reality is the Skibb man is just two years into his latest challenge.

Post-Paris, he left the lightweight world when it was dropped from the Olympic schedule. Last year was his first in the land of giants at heavyweight level – he describes it as a good start. He won medals at every international regatta in 2025, a hat-trick of bronzes in the Irish men’s double from the Worlds, European and World Cup I.

‘Did it make me think it was going to be a bit easier this year? I don’t know,’ he admits.

‘This year has definitely been a lot more difficult, and challenging in so many different ways. There are good learnings from both years, but I’ve probably learned a lot more this year, to be honest.’

With big-hitters like Paul O’Donovan and Philip Doyle not involved in the sculling squad this year and McCarthy struggling with injury last winter, by the time he got on the water, an Irish men’s quad had been formed. So, he decided to focus on the heavyweight singles.

‘I’ve always loved the single. It’s important for us as well, because a lot of our trials and training is done in the single, so we have a good bit of practice and depth in terms of speed amongst us in single sculls. We’re all pretty decent single scullers,’ he says.

‘It was nothing new in terms of training and preparation and stuff like that, but in competition it’s a different ballgame. Especially in that event, with Olly Zeidler and Yauheni Zalaty; they’re always top two this year, and then the rest of the field, it swaps around so often.

‘Just managing that was different. And having only had one international regatta in the single this year before the Worlds, it was a bit of an unknown.’

Yet McCarthy, a fan of structure and organisation, has developed into an athlete who can respond and react to a changing environment. That skill will be put to use when he reviews his 2026 season and plans towards next year, when Olympic qualification for Los Angeles 2028 will be the prize at the World Championships.

He will target the Irish men’s double next year. That’s the boat he feels most at home in, where he had so much success at lightweight and in his first year at heavyweight.

At the halfway point in this Olympic cycle, he isn't fully content. But he is hopeful.

‘There’s been evidence that we can go very fast, and that we can do good things in the heavyweight boats, but also there’s that reminder that it’s not just going to happen.

‘We really are going to have to go after it and make sure there’s no stone unturned. So, it’s been a really good mix of a bit of hope, but a bit of, you know, cop-on as well.

‘I would say not happy, but hopeful.’

McCarthy only needs to look around in the Rowing Ireland camp to see stories of hope. The Irish women’s double of Cremen and Hyde were crowned world champions in Amsterdam. Cremen, like McCarthy, is on the same journey from lightweight to openweight. Fiona Murtagh, in the women’s singles, brought home a silver medal to add to her World gold last season.

It’s a strange feeling for McCarthy to take encouragement from the success of others. For so long, he was proof of Ireland’s rowing strength, but their medals remind him of the work that needs to be done.

‘For me, it just goes to show that we know what we’re doing,’ he says.

‘Mags (Cremen) was a lightweight before, like me, so to have that evidence that we have a programme that can turn us into world champions just confirms that we have everything we need around us – the support staff, the coaching. It can produce world champions, basically.

‘That is reassuring in a way, but it also puts it on you. You literally have everything you need.

‘To be fair, they have had setbacks this year, but other than the odd sickness and stuff, they did not put a foot wrong in training. Every single day was executed exactly how it’s written down in the programme.

‘And I can hold my hand up and say I didn’t do that this year, which is exciting, because I’m definitely going to do it next year,’ he laughs, ‘now that I’ve had the year that I’ve had.’

A milestone birthday this November – when Fintan and Jake turn 30 years old – has crept up on him. Still fresh-faced like when he burst on the scene in 2019 alongside Paul O’Donovan, it’s also a reminder that time doesn’t slow down for anyone.

‘As you’re getting older and growing up, it’s funny, because sometimes I feel, because I’ve been in the rowing centre so long and in this sport so long, a bit stuck at the age you were when you got there,’ he muses.

‘But there has been good life stuff happening outside this year, which is why I don’t want to say it’s been a difficult year all the time, because it’s been great outside.’

Feeling back in the groove after this challenging year, McCarthy knows what he needs to do going into 2027 when the Los Angeles Olympics come more into focus. He has the talent, the work ethic, the love for the sport and the set-up – it’s time to get to work.