Irish crews on target for Olympic Qualification with three medals wins and, reaching 4 A Finals in The World Rowing Cup III in Rotterdam, over the weekend.
On Sunday, Ronan Byrne and Philip Doyle represented Ireland in the M2x A Final. The Men’s Double took the Silver Medal and finished behind the Swiss boat that took the Gold, with less than a second between the two boats. The Irish Men’s Double had an outstanding race in tough conditions and worked hard to take home the Silver Medal.
Fintan McCarthy & Paul O’Donovan won Silver Medal in the LM2x category; the German crew got over the line with .03 of a second ahead of the Irish double. The Irish Crew raced brilliantly throughout the race and the outcome had to be determined by a photo finish in the end.
On Saturday, Gary O’Donovan took home the Bronze medal in the LM1x A Final. O’Donovan nearly took third in a fiercely competitive race but the Australian Sean Murphy took Gold and Slovakia’s Rajko Hrvat boat just finished ahead of O’Donovan to take the Silver Medal.
Jake McCarthy finished in 6th place in the LM1x B Final earlier on Saturday after finishing 4th in the A/B Semi-Final that morning. There were only a few seconds between 3rd and 6th and the Skibbereen Lightweight was just edged out in the last few meters.
The Irish Women’s Pair of, Monika Dukarska and Aileen Crowley took sixth place in the A Final on Sunday morning. The Pair raced well and fought hard in an extremely tough race with high-level competition and were just pipped at the finishing line by the Spanish crew.
The Lightweight Women’s Double of Denise Walsh and Lydia Heaphy took 6th in the LW2x B final. This was their second senior international race as a double and with less than 3 seconds separating 3rd to 6th and the German crew marginally got to the finish line ahead the Irish Double.
Rowing Ireland’s High- Performance Director, Antonio Maurogiovanni said “A promising end to the world cup season by the whole team. We will review the results over the coming days to see how we can take the team to the next important step towards the world championships and Olympic qualification.”
Ireland’s Olympic qualification will start at the World Rowing Championships in Linz, 25th August – 1st September.
More Information: http://www.worldrowing.com/events/2019-world-rowing-championships/event-information
World Rowing Cup III Results:
M2x – Ronan Byrne & Phil Doyle 2nd A Final – Silver Medal
LM2x – Fintan McCarthy & Paul O’Donovan 2nd Final – Silver Medal
LM1x Gary O’Donovan – 3rd A Final – Bronze Medal
LM1x Jake McCarthy – 6th B Final
W2- Aileen Crowley & Monika Dukarska 6th A Final
LW2x – Denise Walsh & Lydia Heaphy 6th B Final
