Rowing at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's double sculls explained

Event:	Men's double sculls
Games:	2020 Summer
Venue:	Sea Forest Waterway
Dates:	23–28 July 2021
Competitors:	26
Nations:	13
Win Value:	6:00.33
Gold:	Hugo Boucheron Matthieu Androdias
Goldnoc:	FRA
Silver:	Melvin Twellaar Stef Broenink
Silvernoc:	NED
Bronze:	Liu Zhiyu Zhang Liang
Bronzenoc:	CHN
Prev:	2016
Next:	2024

The men's double sculls event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place from 23 to 28 July 2021 at the Sea Forest Waterway.^[1] 26 rowers from 13 nations competed.^[2]

Background

This was the 25th appearance of the event, which was not held at the first Games in 1896 (when bad weather forced the cancellation of all rowing events), at the 1908 games, and at the 1912 games.

The defending medalists in the event were Croatia, Lithuania, and Norway. Lithuania is the only 2016 medalist in the competition.

Qualification

See main article: Rowing at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Qualification.

Each National Olympic Committee (NOC) was limited to a single boat (one rower) in the event since 1912. There were 13 qualifying places in the men's double sculls:^[2]

11 from the 2019 World Championship
2 from the final qualification regatta

Competition format

This rowing event is a double scull event, meaning that each boat is propelled by two rowers. The "scull" portion means that the rower uses two oars, one on each side of the boat; this contrasts with sweep rowing in which each rower has one oar and rows on only one side. The competition consists of multiple rounds. The competition continues to use the three-round format. Finals are held to determine the placing of each boat. The course uses the 2000 metres distance that became the Olympic standard in 1912.^[3]

During the first round three heats were held. The first three boats in each heat advanced to the semifinals, with the others relegated to the repechages.

The repechage is a round which offered rowers a second chance to qualify for the semifinals. Placing in the repechage determined which semifinal the boat would race in. The top three boats in the repechage move on to the semifinals, with the remaining boats being eliminated.

Two semifinals were held, each with 6 boats. The top three boats from each heat advanced to Final A and compete for a medal. The remaining boats advanced to Final B.

The third and final round was the finals. Each final determines a set of rankings. The A final determined the medals, along with the rest of the places through 6th, while the B final gives rankings from 7th to 12th.

Schedule

The competition was held over six days.^[1]

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

Date	Time	Round
Friday, 23 July 2021	10:30	Heats
Saturday, 24 July 2021	9:10	Repechage
Sunday, 25 July 2021	12:40	Semifinals A/B
Wednesday, 28 July 2021	8:20	Final B
Wednesday, 28 July 2021	9:30	Final A

Results

Heats

The first three of each heat qualified for the semifinals, while the remainder went to the repechage.^[4]

Heat 1

Rank	Lane	Rower	Time
1	4	Hugo Boucheron Matthieu Androdias	6:10.45
2	1	Zhiyu Liu Liang Zhang	6:11.55
3	3	Ilya Kondratyev Andrey Potapkin	6:16.09
4	5	Stephan Krueger Marc Weber	6:35.11
5	2	Jakub Podrazil Jan Cincibuch	6:41.75

Heat 2

Rank	Lane	Rower	Time
1	4	Miroslaw Zietarski Mateusz Biskup	6:11.22
2	1	Barnabe Delarze Roman Roeoesli	6:11.24
3	3	Jack Lopas Christopher Harris	6:12.05
4	2	Ronan Byrne Philip Doyle	6:14.40

Heat 3

Rank	Lane	Rower	Time
1	4	Melvin Twellaar Stef Broenink	6:08.38
2	2	Graeme Thomas John Collins	6:12.80
3	3	Ioan Prundeanu Marian Enache	6:13.62
4	1	Saulius Ritter Aurimas Adomavicius	6:23.08

Repechage

The first three pairs in the repechage qualified for the semifinals, while the fourth pair was eliminated.

Rank	Lane	Rower	Time
1	4	Stephan Krueger Marc Weber	6:26.64
2	2	Saulius Ritter Aurimas Adomavicius	6:27.36
3	3	Ronan Byrne Philip Doyle	6:29.90
4	1	Jakub Podrazil Jan Cincibuch	6:32.86

Semifinals

The first three of each heat qualify to the Final A, other to Final B

Semifinal A/B 1

Rank	Lane	Rower	Time
1	3	Hugo Boucheron Matthieu Androdias	6:20.45
2	2	Graeme Thomas John Collins	6:22.95
3	4	Miroslaw Zietarski Mateusz Biskup	6:24.50
4	5	Jack Lopas Christopher Harris	6:26.08
5	1	Stephan Krueger Marc Weber	6:38.41
6	6	Ronan Byrne Philip Doyle	6:49.06

Semifinal A/B 2

Rank	Lane	Rower	Time
1	4	Melvin Twellaar Stef Broenink	6:20.17
2	5	Zhiyu Liu Liang Zhang	6:23.11
3	3	Barnabe Delarze Roman Roeoesli	6:25.89
4	6	Ilya Kondratyev Andrey Potapkin	6:26.58
5	2	Ioan Prundeanu Marian Enache	6:29.55
6	1	Saulius Ritter Aurimas Adomavicius	6:34.04

Finals

Final B

Rank	Lane	Rower	Time
1	3	Ilya Kondratyev Andrey Potapkin	6:13.73
2	4	Jack Lopas Christopher Harris	6:15.51
3	2	Ioan Prundeanu Marian Enache	6:16.86
4	6	Ronan Byrne Philip Doyle	6:16.89
5	5	Stephan Krueger Marc Weber	6:18.13
6	1	Saulius Ritter Aurimas Adomavicius	6.20.87

Final A

Rank	Lane	Rower	Time
	3	Hugo Boucheron Matthieu Androdias	6:00.33
	4	Melvin Twellaar Stef Broenink	6:00.53
	2	Liu Zhiyu Zhang Liang	6:03.63
4	5	Graeme Thomas John Collins	6:06.48
5	1	Barnabe Delarze Roman Roeoesli	6:09.05
6	6	Miroslaw Zietarski Mateusz Biskup	6:09.17

Notes and References

Web site: Rowing Competition Schedule . Tokyo 2020 . 6 May 2021 . 3 July 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210703154906/https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/en/schedule/rowing-schedule . dead .
Web site: Qualification System – Games of the XXXII Olympiad – Rowing . . . 6 May 2021.
Web site: Why Do We Race 2000m? The History Behind the Distance . World Rowing . 1 May 2017 . 19 April 2021.
Web site: Rowing - Men's Double Sculls Results. 2021-07-23. en-us. 24 July 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210724134153/https://olympics.com/tokyo-2020/olympic-games/en/results/rowing/event-schedule-men-s-double-sculls.htm. dead.