Match making for a medal is a tough task. Raw talen and a list of successes are, of course, essential ingredients, but if the chemistry doesn’t work, the result is as effective as connecting the same two poles on a pair of batteries. No matter what you do, there will be no spark.

But when Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark took Silver at their first Olympic classes event in Hyères in April, there was evidence of more than a spark. Since then, the pair has taken Silver at two major regattas, including the Olympic test event. Yet success in 2012 is far from guaranteed. Now the honeymoon period is over, Mills and Clark need to prove that their combo can work in the long term.