Ireland’s men’s lightweight double scull and single sculler Sanita Puspure go into the Olympic Qualification Regatta, which starts on Sunday in Lucerne, with qualification for London in mind and/or preparation for the next Olympic cycle in Rio 2016.
The double of Mark O’Donovan and Niall Kenny, who are both 23, know they are long shots after finishing 17th at the first World Cup in Belgrade two weeks ago, but Puspure (30) has a realistic chance of booking her place in London by finishing in the top three in an entry of 17.
The Latvian-born athlete finished fifth in Belgrade, ahead of some of her rivals of the next few days, Norway’s Tale Gjoertz of Norway and Estonia’s Kaisa Pajusalu.
For O’Donovan and Kenny to reach their final would be quite an achievement – and just the top two crews in the final go to London.
At the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004, world class rowers Sam Lynch and Gearóid Towey discovered the lightweight double scull is one of the toughest of Olympic events (they finished 10th).
