‘There’s a lot more I could be doing’: Fintan McCarthy on the valuable lessons from defeat

Most athletes will tell you there’s often more valuable lessons in defeat than in victory, only such was Fintan McCarthy’s medal-winning streak in championship rowing those lessons were becoming increasingly skewed.

After McCarthy failed to make the A final in the single sculls at last month’s World Championships in Amsterdam, it meant for the first time in eight years he’s finished a rowing season without being a world or Olympic champion. Except for 2020, when the pandemic finished that season before it started.