Another boat qualified for Paris 2024 and two more medals for the Irish crews on Day 7 of the World Rowing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. It brings Ireland to a total of seven Paris 2024 qualifications at this event; the largest in Rowing Ireland’s history.
Paul and Fintan have done it again, keeping their title of Lightweight Men’s Double Scull World Champions for another year with another dominant performance to take the gold medals. The Swiss went out strong in the first half of the race taking a length on the rest of the crews, but McCarthy and O’Donovan went into the second half fighting and showed their strength crossing the line ahead of Switzerland and Italy. This makes it their third consecutive World Championship win.
Enniskillen’s Nathan Timoney and Ross Corrigan have secured another medal for Ireland with a bronze in the Men’s pair. Taking the lead for the first half of the race, Timoney and Corrigan made their move early, taking the Swiss and Great Britain by surprise. Favourites for the gold medal Tom George and Ollie Wynne-Griffith from GB came back into it in the third quarter and went down to the line with Timoney and Corrigan for second place after Switzerland took the lead. Ireland just missed out on the surge and had to settle for the bronze medal.
Aoife Casey and Margaret Cremen have qualified the Lightweight Women’s Double for Paris 2024! Nerves were high before they took to the water as it was just one boat in the B final to get the golden ticket. Casey and Cremen looked cool, calm and collected as they showed the world their incredible quality and stamina throughout the entire race. It was a tough battle against the French and the Polish doubles but it was Ireland who came through at the end, finishing with clear water over the field. They finish up their World Championships as seventh in the world and qualified boat for next year.
It was A final day for Katie and Steven in the PR2 Mix2x. After their qualification for the Paralympics on Tuesday, it had been four days since they took to the water to race. It was Great Britain and China who first broke away from the pack but there was nothing splitting the doubles from Poland, the Netherlands and Ireland for that bronze medal. Unfortunately after catching a crab in the second half of the race O’Brien and McGowan lost a bit of ground but quickly picked it up and held their composure. They take fifth in the world this year but they’re definitely a crew to keep your eye on next year.
Aifric Keogh and Fiona Murtagh just missed out on the podium as they crossed the line in 4th position.They fought hard to get into medal position coming into the last 500 meters but were narrowly beaten by the crews from Netherlands, Australia and Romania.
Eimear, Sanita, Imogen and Natalie finished in 3rd place behind New Zealand and Denmark in the B final and they are now 9th in the world! They were hot on the heels of the four from Denmark but the crew from New Zealand had a great lead and claimed the qualification position in the end.
John, Jack, Adam and Fionnán finished in 3rd place in the C final of the men’s four. They showed incredible perseverance in the last 500 metres and made a big comeback from the back of the pack and finished nearly neck and neck to the Chinese four but China managed to claim second position across the line.
Brian, Andrew, Ronan and Konan also had a great performance winning the C final of the men’s quad. They were leading for almost the whole race with the Chinese quad hot on their heels. That didn’t stop them though as they had a fast final 500 metres and they crossed the line in first position ahead of the Chinese quad and finishing 13th in the world.
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 7 Results
- Lightweight Men’s Double A Final -> GOLD
- Men[‘s Pair A Final -> BRONZE
- Lightweight Women’s Double B Final ->1st and OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION
- Women’s Pair A Final -> 4th
- PR2 Mixed Double A Final -> 5th
- Women’s Four B Final -> 3rd
- Men’s Quad C Final -> 1st
- Men’s Four C Final -> 3rd
Sunday Schedule (IST)
- 12:39pm – Men’s Double A Final
- 12:54pm – Women’s Double A Final
