Olympic gold medallist Martin Cross is tipping wins for Oxford men and Cambridge women when the Boat Race returns to the Thames on Sunday.

Cross, who won gold in the coxed four at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics alongside Sir Steve Redgrave, predicts two tight races and a first win for Oxford men’s crew since 2017.

“First of all, the standard of the race is incredible,” he said. “I think the standard across all four crews this year is probably the highest it’s been.”

“The races could go all the way and it's quite difficult to choose but nevertheless, there are two favourites: Oxford in the men's race and Cambridge in the women’s race.

“When you take a look at just who's in the Oxford men’s crew in terms of Olympic rowers, Olympic finalists, Olympic medallists; it's got stunning line-up. I’ve seen them out and they look really good. They’re going to deliver on that power.

“And then you look at the Cambridge men’s eight and they've got a number of Olympians and Olympic medallists on board. If they row like they did when they finished ahead of Oxford Brookes, who are the fastest team in the country at the moment, in their second piece last month, and get a good draw then the race could go all the way down to the last bend. They’re that fast.”

And while Cambridge women are expected to make it five in a row for the light blues, Cross believes the margin of victory will reflect a much tighter contest.

Cross, who also co-commentates alongside Greg Searle on the World Championships for FISA, explained: “In the women’s race, Oxford have got a fantastic crew, a world champion [Erin Reelick] stroking and an Olympic finalist [Gabrielle Smith] in the five seat. So that boat is very strong.

“The thing is, they’re up against this incredible rower at Cambridge called Grace Prendergast who’s the world number one female oarswoman. And she’s got a great combination in the stern with the stroke woman Imogen Grant who came fourth in Tokyo.

“They’ve dominated in all their fixtures, but I don’t think it’s going to be like previous year’s walkover. Actually, the race will go down a long way down the course before Cambridge make a break for it.”

The international standard of rowing may surprise some people and has often led to accusations of selective admissions, but Cross refutes this.

“For most people what they think about rowing will be to do with the boat race. That will be the event they’ve seen, even more so than the Olympics,” he said.

“There used to be unofficial recruiting going on in days gone by, but I'm not sure it’s quite the same thing now. The rowers will ring up the coaches and ask for advice on applications, but that's because they want to attend.

“People see it as a great opportunity to get a year's course like an MBA and you can combine your love of rowing with the rigor of an academic course and get to row in the boat race at the same time.

“To someone like Angus Groom in Oxford, who's the Olympic silver medallist in the single sculls, he has decided to retire from international rowing, so this is a last chance for him to row at the top level, so the boat race provides a fantastic opportunity for that.”