'It can be cruel, you have to have a thick skin in this sport'

In Augsburg, Germany, Noel Hendrick is part of an Irish team competing at the World Canoe Slalom Championships this week, an event that drops one year on from the last Olympic Games and 24 months out from the next. His eyes are fixed on the road ahead but a look over the shoulder is merited.

Noel Hendrick. 

July isn’t even done but the races for Sam and Liam are. Euro 2022 is in the closing strait, the World Cup has been transplanted to winter in the desert and it’ll be November before rugby dominates the back pages again. All but one of golf’s nine majors have come and gone. Add to that the men’s Tour de France and Wimbledon.

So what now of the sporting summer?