Hamish Bond has given the biggest hint yet that next year's Rio Olympics will be the last time he and Eric Murray compete as a pair.
Bond, who was born in Dunedin and still represents the North End Rowing Club, was in town yesterday as part of his part-time financial adviser job with Forsyth Barr.
When asked what the future holds post Rio, the seven-time Otago rower of the year and two-time supreme Halberg Award winner doubted he and Murray would continue together.
''I've obviously got plans of how I think post Rio will look,'' he said.
''It's going to be heavily dependent on what happens in the next 10 months. At this stage, I would say it's unlikely that we will be back in the pair post Rio.
''Time could make my ideas change, and it's certainly been a good run and it's been great, but I kind of feel there wouldn't really be much to achieve by repeating it again.''
There has been speculation in the past that Bond might move into the single next season, but he would only go as far as saying he ''might look for new horizons''.
''Whatever they are, I'm not sure, but that will also be heavily influenced by who is around, who is retiring and results for other boats at the Olympics.''
Five-time world champion Mahe Drysdale will attempt to defend his Olympic title in the single next year, but the 36-year-old is expected to retire after the games.
That would create an opening for Bond, who finished second behind Drysdale in the single at the national championships last February.
Bond will be 30 by the time Rio rolls around, but has no plans to hang up the oars post Olympics.
''I have no plans at this stage,'' he said.
''The appeal of a different life style is growing. But in saying that, I may sample that for a while and decide rowing is all right.
''It just depends how everything shakes down over the next 12 months.''
Bond and Murray, who are unbeaten in the men's coxless pair since teaming up in 2009, won their sixth world championship title in France last month.
They resumed training, along with New Zealand's other elite rowers, at Lake Karapiro at the start of the week and are firmly focused on winning consecutive Olympic titles.
''It's an exciting year. It's a culmination of another four years,'' Bond said.
''That [winning] is certainly our intention, but you have got to make it happen. Obviously we have gone well since London. We're on the front foot for sure, but we have still got to work.''
With a light training schedule this week, Bond has been able to mix some of his part-time work with rowing.
He has been in his role, which came about after talking to company chairman Sir Eion Edgar, since the 2012 London Olympics.
It has allowed him to immerse himself in another side of life and get outside of the ''bubble'' that is high performance sport, he said.
He was in Dunedin only for the day, and spent much of it speaking at the Otago Public Art Gallery.
Bond, who was first coached by Otago great Fred Strachan while he attended Otago Boys' High School, said he still caught up with Strachan every now and then, most recently at the world championships last month.
He and the rest of the New Zealand rowers will build into full training over the next month, but their next major regatta is not until the national championships at Lake Karapiro in February.
They will then leave for the European circuit in May, before continuing on to Rio.
