Rowing Ireland had a successful morning of racing in Tokyo, leading to the Women’s Four becoming the first Irish female rowers to win a medal, and Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan breaking a world record time in the Men’s Double Sculls. Ireland will be looking to continue their luck as they move into another day of rowing on Thursday.

In the Women’s Pair, Monika Dukarska & Aileen Crowley will race in the B Final at 00:40. The pair finished fifth in their A/B Semi-Final. Monika and Aileen faced a tough field, finishing behind Australia, Canada, Britain and Greece respectively. In the B Final, the crew will face rowers from Italy, the USA, Australia, Romania and Denmark.

In the Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls, Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey will race at 01:00 in the B Final. Margaret and Aoife put in an impressive effort, but failed to progress to the A Final, and will now face Canada, Japan, Switzerland, Russian Olympic Committee, and Belarus in the B Final.

At 01:50, Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan take on the A Final, looking poised to take home a medal after an impressive performance at the Games so far. This morning, the duo set world’s best time of 6:05.33, two full seconds ahead of the field. A tough race faces Fintan and Paul, as they face Italy, Czech Republic, Germany, Uruguay and Belgium on Thursday morning as they battle for a podium place.

Speaking after their race this morning, Fintan said: “I saw the time when I finished the race, on the splits, but I didn’t want to believe it until we saw it after! Now we will just concentrate on tomorrow’s final. We expect a tough battle from the Italians.”

The final race of the morning takes place at 02:30, when Sanita Puspure will race in the Women’s Single Sculls A/B Semi-Final. Sanita proved a force to be reckoned with when she sailed to victory in the Quarter-Finals, seconds ahead of the USA and China. Sanita will be looking for a placement of 1-3 to qualify for the A-Final, which will take place on Friday morning.

Upcoming Irish Races

Thursday 29th (IST)

B Final 

  • Women’s Pair (W2-)  Monika Dukarska & Aileen Crowley – 00:40
  • Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x) – Margaret Cremen & Aoife Casey – 01:00

A Final

  • Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x) – Fintan McCarthy & Paul O’Donovan – 01:50

A/B Semi-Final

  • Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – Sanita Puspure – 02:30

Olympic Coverage

Full coverage of the Olympic Games will be available live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 1:30am each night. Rowing highlights will also feature on RTÉ2 at 9am and 7pm. 

Extensive results will be covered on Rowing Ireland’s website and social channels throughout the week.

Media Quieries

For any further information or media queries please contact: communications@rowingireland.ie 

Stephen King – 087 954 2009 – 12pm – 5am

Pádraic Daly – 086 067 9329 – 7am – 12pm

Oisin McQuerins – 083 309 6037 – 12pm – 5pm