Irish Rowing Team Announced for Paris Qualifier at 2023 World Rowing Championships

21st August 2023

Paul O'Donovan (University College Cork RC) and Fintan McCarthy (Skibbereen RC) competed at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. The pair will attempt to qualify for the Paris 2024 Games in the Lightweight Men's Double (LM2x) at the World Rowing Championships Serbia in September

Paul O'Donovan (University College Cork RC), right, and Fintan McCarthy (Skibbereen RC) competed at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. The pair will attempt to qualify for the Paris 2024 Games in the Lightweight Men's Double (LM2x) at the World Rowing Championships Serbia in September Credit: Sportsfile

Ireland has announced the selection of 12 crews that will compete at the 2023 World Rowing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.

The event, taking place from September 3rd to 10th, serves as the first opportunity for Irish rowers to secure Olympic qualification spots for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

The selected athletes will face a tough challenge, as this event is their last chance to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympics after the final qualification event in Lucerne next May.

In 2019, Rowing Ireland qualified four boats for the Tokyo Olympics, followed by two more at the final qualification event. This year, 28 athletes will be racing in just two weeks' time, the largest number of Irish athletes to compete at a World Rowing Championships for Ireland, with 26 of them being in Olympic class events.

The selected crews are as follows: Katie O'Brien and Steven McGowan for the Para Mixed Double (PR2 Mix2x); Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey for the Lightweight Women's Double (LW2x); Siobhán McCrohan for the Lightweight Women's Scull (LW1x); Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy for the Lightweight Men's Double (LM2x); Jake McCarthy for the Lightweight Men's Scull (LM1x); Fiona Murtagh and Aifric Keogh for the Women's Pair (W2-); Alison Bergin and Zoe Hyde for the Women's Double (W2x); Eimear Lambe, Sanita Puspure, Imogen Magner, and Natalie Long for the Women's Four (W4-); Nathan Timoney and Ross Corrigan for the Men's Pair (M2-); Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch for the Men's Double (M2x); Brian Colsh, Andrew Sheehan, Ronan Byrne, and Konan Pazzaia for the Men's Quad (M4x); and John Kearney, Jack Dorney, Adam Murphy, and Fionnan McQuillan-Tolan for the Men's Four (M4-).

The High-Performance Director, Antonio Maurogiovanni, leads the team, along with coaching staff Dominic Casey (HP Lightweight Head Coach), David Breen (HP Para Coach), Giuseppe De Vita (HP Women's Head Coach), Ashley Rowe (HP Women's Coach), Fran Keane (HP Men's Head Coach), Nicolo Maurogiovanni (HP Men's Coach), physiotherapists Heather O'Brien and Orla Doolin, and team manager Michael O'Rourke.

With the eyes of the world watching, Ireland's rowers will be pulling hard to secure their place on the Olympic stage in Paris.

Published in Rowing

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