It’s the Sinković Brothers All the Way

Just over a week ago, Valent Sinković was competing in the Spartan “Beast” Race in Croatia. Most athletes would need to take some time to recover after running a half-marathon through a course with more than thirty different obstacles, but the Sinković brothers are not like most athletes. After all, they are the most decorated Summer Olympians in Croatia’s history.

“It was tough, but the next day, I was ready to row,” Valent said. “I did some running and that’s how I recovered fast, so it wasn’t a problem.”

On Saturday, Valent, age 36, and his brother, Martin, age 34, finished first in the championship doubles race at the Head of the Charles, making it from BU to the finish line in 15:55, some 15 seconds off their 2014 course record.

Martin said that returning to Boston and being back on the Charles River for the first time since 2014 “felt great” and added that the spectacular weather made Saturday’s race “perfect.”

“We had a great race. I enjoyed it and the crowd here is amazing” the younger Sinković brother said. “It was really enjoyable for me.”

Since their last trip up the Charles River a decade ago, the Sinković brothers won a gold medal at each Summer Olympics, as a double in Rio, and then as a pair in Tokyo and Paris.

The Sinkovićs completed Saturday’s race nearly 25 seconds ahead of the second-place boat, rowed by a pair of Italian Olympians, 26-year-old Luca Chiumento and 22-year-old Matteo Sartori. Chiumento and Sartori made it to the finish line on Saturday afternoon in 16:29.

Finishing in third with a time of 16:25 was a composite boat of Belgian Niels Van Zandweghe, 28, and Jamie Copus, 31. Copus, the winner of the HOCR lightweight men’s single in 2022, is a dual citizen of England and the United States who rowed on Team Great Britain for most of his career before opting to join the U.S. National Team in 2023.

Less than a second behind Van Zandweghe and Copus was another boat of brothers from Croatia. Identical twins Patrik and Anton Lončarić, 24, represented their country in the double at the Paris Olympics this summer, while the Sinkovićs rowed the pair. Competing in their first Head of the Charles, they finished the course on Saturday in 16:26 seconds and noted the challenge of the Charles’ corners.

“The corners are tough and so it was a bit of adjustments,” Patrik remarked. “But for the first time everything is great, the weather is awesome, and the people are awesome.”

The also noted the challenge of their countrymen.

The Loncaric brothers. 

“It’s always a pleasure,” Patrik said of training and racing with the Sinkovićs. “We have the advantage that we can train with them every day and be with them every day, so that’s pretty good, but racing against them in a race like this is fun.”

The first timers to the Head of the Charles hope to return in 2025.

“We cannot say yet, but we will have it in our plan for sure, because this is an awesome Regatta and we would like to come more,” Anton said. “We will try to make it on our schedule every single year.”

The Sinković brothers are looking forward to an exciting day on Sunday, when they will be rowing in the Champ Eight, together with the British silver medal-winning boat from the Paris pair, and four other former Olympians.

“We are very excited about tomorrow,” Martin said. “We can’t wait to race, and I believe we’ll do as good as today, and we will enjoy it like we did today.”