Former Olympic champion Mark Hunter believes the men’s double sculls pairing of Angus Groom and Jack Beaumont are the ones to watch as Tokyo 2020 begins to come into focus.

The duo has gone from strength to strength this season, following up their silver medal in the first World Cup event of the year in Belgrade with a classy gold in Linz in June.

With the European and World Championships still to come, there is the prospect of further success on the horizon for Groom and Beaumont before the end of the year.

And they have certainly caught the eye of Hunter, who knows plenty about performing on the biggest stage after winning Olympic gold and silver in the lightweight double sculls.

The 40-year-old Londoner, also a two-time world champion alongside Zac Purchase, admits he is excited by the potential of the pairing and has backed them for medal success in Tokyo.

“It’s been really exciting to watch the men’s sculling team, the quad and the double, that’s what has really excited me, as it’s always been about men’s heavyweight sweep,” he said.

“I think having those boats - I don’t want to say dominating as that’s a strong word - but up there in medal contention the whole time I think it really sets an exciting outlook going towards Tokyo.

“Angus [Groom] and Jack [Beaumont] in the double, that’s a combination that is really exciting me because they row really well, which is always nice to see heavyweights doing.

“They’re not just using their brute power, they are using their technical side as well and they are enjoying it and that’s a really big thing.

“When you see two athletes that want to row together, they’re racing well, they’re enjoying it, they’ve got good chat with each other and I think that’s an ideal combination.

“It’s one definitely to watch going towards Tokyo and they are definitely medal prospects, they won the last World Cup, they won Henley, so they are in a really strong position.

“It’s a combination that’s just starting off again so they have plenty of time to learn off each other and different ways of racing, working out the best way to get from A to B as quickly as possible so they can cross the line first in Tokyo.”

Hunter said the upcoming European and World Championships will be important stepping stones for the likes of Beaumont and Groom as they build towards the Olympics in two years’ time.

But with British Rowing going through a significant transition period following Rio 2016, he expects next year to be much more telling in the development of the squad for Tokyo.

“It’s an interesting point as we’re not quite where we’ve been before, with people winning major medals and dominating the World Cup events,” he said.

“But it’s been a bit of a redevelopment phase and there’s been a lot of athletes retire and move on and you have the younger athletes come through and fill those spots.

“You have to give them time to really shape themselves in those positions and I think you’ll see them really shape themselves in those positions. It possibly won’t be this year, but next year I’m sure they’ll come strong the year before the Olympics in Tokyo.”

Hunter was speaking in his role as City Champion for London at the Power8 Sprints, a new initiative launched by British Rowing to attract a wider audience to the sport.

The inaugural event, which took place at the Bristol Harbour Festival, saw teams from eight cities compete against each other over 350m and Hunter said it was exactly what the sport needed.

“It’s something completely different to what we really associate with the sport as we’re used to racing over 2,000m and this is over 350m,” he said.

“We’re always trying to move forward and challenge people’s ideas about what they think about the sport, moving it away from being a long race into a short, explosive race and bringing in a different dynamic of people.”

The inaugural Power8 Sprints took place in Bristol on 22nd July. To find out how the action unfolded visit www.power8sprints.com