After a delay in racing due to poor weather conditions, the U19 World Rowing Championships kicked off today in Paris, France. Ireland have three crews competing this weekend, having the first run down the course that will be used at next year’s Olympic Games.

Lee Valley Rowing Club’s Holly Davis was up first in the heat of the women’s singe sculls. In her third appearance at the Junior World Championships, Davis will be aiming to make it back on the podium like she did back in 2021 winning bronze in the women’s double with Rachel Bradley. Starting her 2023 campaign strong Holly took a commanding lead in her heat from the start. Holding her pace through the race it was a clear win for Ireland and direct qualification into tomorrow’s quarterfinals.

Kate Reidy (Lee RC) and Ayla O’Neill (Kenmare RC) are competing in the women’s double this year after racing in the women’s quad in last year’s World Championships in Varese, Italy. With only one crew to qualify straight into the A/B Semi’s, Ireland will go through the repechage after a second place finish. Through to the halfway mark there was nothing separating the six crews, but it was Ireland s bowball that stuck ahead. Holding on right to the end Kate and Ayla put in a huge performance but just missed out to the double from Norway. They’re up again in the morning for their repechage with another chance at making the A/B Semi’s.

The men’s junior double of Athlone Rowing Club’s Zach Meegan and St Michael’s Shane Rafferty finished second in their heat this morning sending them into tomorrow’s repechage. This combination raced at last year’s Coupe de la Jeunesse winning gold in both the Saturday and Sunday programs. It was immediately a fight between the doubles from Turkey, Ireland and Switzerland from the get go in the heat. Just 0.5 of a second separated the three crews as they came into the final 400m of the race, but with just one qualification spot up for grabs it came right down to the line. The Turkish double dropped off in the final sprint and it was the crews from Ireland and Switzerland going head to head for first place. In the end the Swiss boat took the win a canvas ahead of Meegan and Rafferty.

The racing can be followed through the live tracker and live commentary on the World Rowing website HERE. A live video stream will be available for racing on Saturday and Sunday.

Thursday Results

  • JW1x Heat 1st -> Quarterfinal
  • JW2x Heat 2nd -> Repechage
  • JM2x Heat 2nd -> Repechage

Friday Schedule (IST)

  • 9:54am – JW2x Repechage
  • 10:09am – JM2x Repechage
  • 11:09am – JW1x Quarterfinal