Day two of racing has finished up in Plovdiv at the U23 World Championships and three crews are into the A/B Semi-finals.

Konan Pazzaia and Brian Colsh were first up on the water early this morning for the Heat of the Men’s Double. Starting how they mean to go on, the Queen’s-University of Galway pairing won the first heat to progress directly to the A/B Semi on Saturday.

Following suit, the Lightweight Men’s Double of Ciaran Purdy and Rory O’Neill made their debut, winning their heat to progress straight into the A/B Semi’s. Sitting in second place behind Italy through the halfway mark, Ireland held a steady race, relying on the strong finish that has been shown from the Irish athletes time and time again. In the third 500m, Purdy and O’Neill made their move and rowed through the Italian double of Luca Borgonovo and Nicolo’ Demiliani. They’re up again on Saturday morning where they’ll race for a spot in the A Final.

2022 Bronze medallist, Alison Bergin, is into tomorrow’s Repechage of the Women’s Scull after a second place finish in this morning’s heat. Drawn against this year’s Senior European Championship silver medallist, Aurelia-Maxima Katharina Janzen, it was always going to be a tough race for the Fermoy sculler with only one to qualify directly to the A/B Semi. Holding her own race, Bergin held a consistent speed through the middle 1000m, allowing her to overtake the sculler from South Africa before breaking into the final quarter of the race.

Andrew Sheehan was up again today for the Repechage of the Men’s Scull. Dominating his race, Sheehan led from the start and never gave the sculler from Turkey a chance to take his lead. From the early stages of the race it was Ireland and Turkey that broke away from the pack, creating a six second gap from the first 500m mark. With two boats to qualify for the A/B Semi, it was clear from early on who was taking those spots.

Tomorrow is a quiet day with just Alison Bergin racing in her Repechage but it will be another busy day on Saturday for the Semi-finals. The racing can be followed through the live tracker and live commentary on the World Rowing website HERE

Thursday Results

  • BM2x Heat 1st -> A/B Semi
  • BLM2x Heat 1st -> A/B Semi
  • BW1x Heat 2nd -> Repechage
  • BM1x Repechage 1st -> A/B Semi

Friday Schedule (IST)

  • 7:35am – BW1x Repechage