The Men's and Women's Championship Doubles lived up to their elite billing, swept by two sets of Olympians: the three-time gold medallists Valent and Martin Sinkovic and GB's newly-minted Paris bronze medallists, Rebecca Wilde and Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne.

For good measure, the Director's Challenge Mixed Double also went to a duo fresh from the Olympics: Germany's single sculling champ Ollie Zeidler won the race with his girlfriend, Sofia Meakin, who was an alternate for the Swiss quad in Paris.

Men's Champ 2x

The Sinkovics, winners of the Olympic double in Rio and then the Olympic pair in Tokyo and Paris, raced the double for the first time this season without missing a beat.

"It was really good race," said Martin Sinkovic. "We did a good job, and I really enjoyed it every bit of that race."

The Sinkovic brothers still own the Champ 2x course record from their win here in 2014, when they were training full-time in the double, and Valent Sinkovic said it was hard to compare the row today with how the boat was going in 2014 when they set the record.

"Probably we were a little bit faster then, when we were at a peak, But as Martin said, it was great. It was such nice weather. The people were so nice, and they cheered for us the whole way."

So far, the brothers have relished their return to the Charles.

"The atmosphere is beautiful," Martin said, "All the crowd is cheering. It's amazing. We really like to come here."

"It's so many people and so many competitors, you can't see this anywhere else in the world, so that's really special," added Valent.

The Sinkovics still have another event to go on the weekend: their Champ 8 race on Sunday in the Olympian-laden Koven Training Center boat we covered earlier this week.

"We can't wait for the eight tomorrow," said Valent.

Women's Champ 2x

In the women's race, Rebecca Wilde and Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne took the win, capping off a year that saw them first earn the last spot for Paris at the Final Qualifier and then take a bronze medal in the Games.

Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne and Rebecca Wilde going for the win

"It's our first time racing here, and we both wanted to do it for a long time," Hodgkins Byrne said. "We thought this was a good year to do it and we're so glad we're here."

"We ended up racing a lot higher than I thought we would," added Wilde. "But I think we both know that you trust what's happening rather than what you think you should be doing. We had a very solid row, and didn't hit anything. That was my main thing."

The two did take some time off after Paris, but found their groove again quickly in the run-up to the Charles trip.

"We've done a week and a half in our boat since Paris," said Hodgkins Byrne.

"We got back in it last week. It took a few sessions, and then it felt back to normal, but definitely not where we were in Paris, at all."

"We have complete trust in each other," she added. "We were such a good partnership, so we both know what each other strengths are and what we can bring to the table, and that mental toughness. Although physically we're not at our peak, technically we still held on to some of those points that we had in the run-up to Paris."

And One More Set of Olympians...

Ollie Zeidler and Sophia Meakin did keep the Olympian streak going in the afternoon's double races, powering away in the Director's Challenge Mixed Double with a big enough margin that none of the time-handicapped crews in the race could match them.

The Zeidler and Meakin Mixed 2x