Three more crews have confirmed their place at the Paris Olympics next Summer after today’s Semi-finals.

Fiona Murtagh and Aifric Keogh have made sure that there will be an Irish women’s pair competing next year at the Olympic Games. Ireland moved into second position after the first 500 behind the Romanian pair of Roxana Anghel and Ioana Vrinceanu. The Romanian pair have been moving well all season winning the European Championships and finishing second at World Cup III. With a second place finish the two Galway rowers are into the A Final. Murtagh and Keogh have shown good speed throughout this Championships and will be leaving it all on the line this Saturday in the hopes to make it on to that podium.

22 year old Nathan Timoney and 24 year old Ross Corrigan have been on top form this week and have today qualified a men’s pair for Ireland at Paris 2024. Timoney and Corrigan grew up rowing together with Enniskillen Royal BC in Fermanagh and are putting themselves up there with the top crews here at the World Championships. Ireland went out hard and held second position right from the start. With South Africa hot on their heels coming into the final sprint, they took it up another gear finishing with the fastest final 500. Their second place result sends them through to Saturday’s A Final where they’ll race the best of the best.

Reigning Olympic and World Champions Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy have secured a spot at Paris for the lightweight men’s double. Making it look easy, O’Donovan and McCarthy held their composure through the first half of the race, passing the first marker in fifth place and the halfway mark in second place. Relying on their incredible strength and fitness, they were able to focus on their own race and one by one came through the other crews. In the end they finished with clear water ahead of the field with Czechia and Norway coming in behind them to take the remaining two spots to the A Final.

The lightweight women’s double of Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey were unlucky in their A/B Semi, just narrowly missing out on the A Final. Throughout the entirety of the race there was never more than two seconds separating the top four doubles. coming to the line Cremen and Casey really closed in on Mary Jones and Michelle Sechser of the USA for that third qualifying spot but running out of water Ireland missed out by just .35 of a second. They race the B Final on Saturday where there is still one spot up for grabs for Paris 2024.

Eimear Lambe, Sanita Puspure, Imogen Magner and Natalie Long finished in fifth place in the women’s four sending them through to the B final. They held third position through to the third quarter of the race but after giving it everything there wasn’t enough left to squeeze back into the A Final positions. They face Germany, Poland, Denmark, New Zealand and Canada in the B Final this Saturday with one crew coming away with the final spot available at the championships for next year’s Olympics.

Tribesmen’s Siobhán McCrohan is into the lightweight women’s scull A Final after a win in her A/B Semi. Handling the tough conditions like a pro, McCrohan sailed over the waves and held a consistent speed throughout the race. Moving into the leading position in the third quarter, there was no looking back as she continued to pull away from the other crews. She will race the A Final tomorrow afternoon where she will be looking for a place on the podium.

This afternoon Jake McCarthy took to the water again for the lightweight men’s scull C/D Semi. In extremely challenging conditions, McCarthy finished in 6th place which sends him through to tomorrow’s D Final against New Zealand, Norway, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Finland.

Follow the Racing

All races will be live streamed on the World Rowing website HERE. A Finals will be played on the RTÉ News Channel. Follow the Rowing Ireland social media for live updates on results.

Day 5 Results

  • Women’s Pair A/B Semi 2nd -> A Final and Olympic Qualification
  • Men’s Pair A/B Semi 2nd -> A Final and Olympic Qualification
  • Lightweight Men’s Double A/B Semi 1st -> A Final and Olympic Qualification
  • Lightweight Women’s Double A/B Semi 4th -> B Final
  • Women’s Four A/B Semi 5th -> B Final
  • Lightweight Women’s Scull A/B Semi 1st -> A Final
  • Lightweight Men’s Scull A/B Semi 6th -> D Final

Friday Schedule (IST)

  • 9:45am – Men’s Double A/B Semi
  • 9:55am – Women’s Double A/B Semi
  • 12:05pm – Lightweight Men’s D Final
  • 13:15pm – Lightweight Women’s A Final