Paris 2024: It's the stroke-rate and we're not talking about heat

The temperature was heading to 34 degrees at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, the venue for the rowing at Paris 2024.

After a while being seated in the same spot for more than a few minutes was no longer an option. One of the volunteers offered me an umbrella, but I needed one in a fixed position and the practicalities did not allow. It was time to go indoors, where the queue for the water dispenser was lengthening.

Earlier, on the walk to the venue, which took about 25 minutes after the shuttle bus dropped us off, the burning sensation was there if you stood too long, particularly for the fair-skinned type.

All this heat, we're told, is going to spark off thunderstorms later.

On the water itself, Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch looked a cut above the rest as they advanced to a double sculls final. There was disappointment, however, for Zoe Hyde and Alison Bergin in the women's equivalent, while the women's four of Emily Hegarty, Natalie Long, Eimear Lambe and Imogen Magner also failed to make it from their repechage into the semis.

But for Doyle and Lynch, their time of 6:13.14 was the quickest of all the qualifiers. Favourites for the gold then? Well, maybe that's too easy to say.

In rowing, one of the metrics that is key is the stroke-rate.

In doing some research on this, it would seem that across all the boats used in Olympic competition up to last year's World Championships, the average stroke-rate is 38.9 strokes per minute. Back in 2017, it was 36-37spm. In all men's sculling events, the stroke-rate has seen continuous growth since 2021

So what do our two Olympic finalists have to say about their SPM?

After securing their place in Thursday's medal race, Daire Lynch told a few sweaty reporters: "We would be aiming for in