Today has been the busiest day yet for Ireland, with 11 crews racing at the World Rowing Championships in the Czech Republic.

There are now five crews into the A Finals, where they will race for the medals over the next few days. In addition, there are three crews headed to the B Finals, three crews to the C Finals and one in the D Final. Sanita and Zoe hit the water tomorrow for the A/B Semi of the Women's Double, so hopefully, Ireland will have another crew in the mix for the medals after that.

The Para Mixed Double of Katie O'Brien and Steven McGowen were first up to qualify for their A Final this morning. The Uzbekistan Double of Feruza Buriboeva and Otabek Kuchkorov completed the first 500m at lightning pace, with a split of 2:01.79. As they broke away from the crews, it was Katie and Steven who reeled them in through the 1000m mark and left the remaining crews behind. The Galway duo secured their place in the A Final finishing just 4 seconds behind Uzbekistan.

Lydia Heaphy in the Lightweight Women's Scull, and the Women's Pair of Tara Hanlon and Natalie Long progressed into the B Finals of their respective events. Lydia finished sixth in her Semi, a result that does not fully capture the talent that this Skibbereen sculler has. Tara and Natalie, who were part of the Women's Fours that won Bronze at World Cup II and Silver at Europeans, placed fifth in their Semi putting them through to the B Final on Saturday. The top three crews, Romania, the Netherlands and Croatia progressed to the A Final.

Women's Pair of Tara Hanlon and Natalie Long

Both the Men's and Women's Lightweight Doubles are into the A Finals on Saturday, after impressive performances in their Semis. Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey sat in third place behind Great Britain and Greece through the halfway point, but it was during the third quarter of the race that their strength really stood to them, as the Greek double began to fade away and they continued to gain speed. In the end they finished just 3.48 seconds behind Imogen Grant and Emily Craig of GB.

The Swiss Lightweight Men's Double put up a fight against Paul and Fintan, leading the crew from Ireland to the 1000m and then putting in a big push through the second half of the race, but there was no stopping the boys from West Cork. Continuing to pull away from the Swiss, Ireland finished in first place in a time of 6:24.41. With another win under their belt, they head into the A Final on Saturday afternoon.

The Women's Four of Emily Hegarty, Fiona Murtagh, Eimear Lambe and Aifric Keogh did not disappoint. The crew from Ireland finished second in their Semi putting them through to the A Final, and are the second fastest boat going into it. They held second place from start to finish, holding off the Chinese crew who put down a strong start, and gained a second on the GB crew in the final 500m.

The Women's Four of Emily Hegarty, Fiona Murtagh, Eimear Lambe and Aifric Keogh

John Kearney, Ross Corrigan, Nathan Timoney and Jack Dorney missed out on the Men's Four A Final by half a length. In a gutsy race, the crew from Ireland went out hard, not allowing the leading crews to move further than their bow. Holding third position through the majority of the race, it was the Swiss Four's last push in the final 500m that just bumped them out of the qualifying position.

Later in the afternoon, four crews from Ireland raced the C/D Semi Finals. Both Alison Bergin in the Women's Scull, and Phil Doyle and Konan Pazzaia in the Men's Double won their Semi's and go into the C Finals on Sunday. In the Men's Scull, Brian Colsh came second by a bow ball to the Chinese sculler who had an incredible final 500m sprint, bringing him from sixth to first. Brian goes into the C Final with the third fastest time.

Hugh Moore was unfortunate in his C/D Semi finishing in fourth position just 0.24 of a second behind third place. Hugh's time of 7:26.52 was the fourth fastest from the C/D Semis, but his fourth place finish means he will have to race the D Final tomorrow morning.

The first day of finals starts tomorrow and all races will be live streamed on the World Rowing Website HERE

Ireland Results
PR2 Mix2x Repechage 2nd -> A Final
LW1x A/B Semi 6th -> B Final
W2- A/B Semi 5th -> B Final
LW2x A/B Semi 2nd -> A Final
LM2x A/B Semi 1st -> A Final
W4- A/B Semi 2nd -> A Final
M4- A/B Semi 4th -> B Final
LM1x C/D Semi 4th -> D Final
M1x C/D Semi 2nd -> C Final
W1x C/D Semi 1st -> C Final
M2x C/D Semi 1st -> C Final

Friday Schedule (IST)
9:15am - LM1x D Final
9:41am - LW1x B Final
11:16am - W2x A/B Semi
12:18am - PR2 W1x A Final

Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy, the Gold medallists at the European Championships 2022, lead thirteen crews who will race for Ireland in the Senior World Rowing Championships held in Racice, Czech Republic this month.

Racing will begin on Sunday 18th September and finish on Sunday 25th September.

The Ireland Rowing Team, as announced by Rowing Ireland, under High Performance Director Antonio Maurogiovanni is below. 

While provisional entries were entered last week, crew selection is still ongoing and entries below may have slight changes prior to racing.

Ireland Rowing Team for World Championships in Racice, Czech Republic

Para Mixed Double - Stephen McGowen and Katie O'Brien

Para Team
Conor Moloney - Para National Coach

PR2 W1x
Katie O'Brien (Galway RC)
PR2 Mix2x
Katie O’Brien (Galway RC)
Steven McGowen (Galway RC)

Lightweight Men's Double - Fintan McCarthy and Paul O'Donovan

Lightweight Team
Dominic Casey - Head Coach

LM1x
Hugh Moore (QUBBC)
LM2x
Paul O’Donovan (UCC RC)
Fintan McCarthy (Skibbereen RC)
LW1x
Lydia Heaphy (Skibbereen RC)
LW2x
Margaret Cremen (UCC RC)
Aoife Casey (UCC RC)

Women's Double - Sanita Puspure and Zoe Hyde

Heavyweight Women's Team
Giuseppe De Vita - Head Coach

Leah O'Regan - National Coach

W1x
Alison Bergin (Fermoy RC)
W2x
Zoe Hyde (Killorglin RC)
Sanita Puspure (Old Collegians)
W2-
Natalie Long (Lee Valley RC)
Tara Hanlon (UCC RC)
W4-
Emily Hegarty (UCC RC)
Fiona Murtagh (NUIG BC)
Eimear Lambe (Old Collegians)
Aifric Keogh (DULBC)

Heavyweight Men's Team
Fran Keane - Head Coach

Nicolo Maurogiovanni - National Coach

M1x
Brian Colsh (NUIG BC)
M2x
Phil Doyle (Belfast BC)
Konan Pazzaia (QUBBC)
M4-
John Kearney (UCC RC)
Ross Corrigan (QUBBC)
Nathan Timoney (QUBBC)
Jack Dorney (Shandon BC)

Team Manager
Michael O'Rourke

Team Physiotherapist
Heather O'Brien

On Sunday 14th August, Inver Colpa Rowing Club hosted their first ever HER Outdoors event in conjunction with the Louth Local Sports Partnership.

Co-ordinated by Sport Ireland, HER Outdoors Week took place from 8th-14th August 2022 and aimed to celebrate and encourage more females to get out and enjoy the benefits of being in the outdoors while bringing visibility to the opportunities for females to get involved in outdoor physical activity.

The first ever HER Outdoors Week was held in August 2021 and it was a huge success. With over 250 events taking place nationwide and nearly 5,000 females active across 7 days, Sport Ireland wanted to build on this for the 2022 campaign.

The week was be an opportunity for all females to escape to the outdoors and try something new. Along with other events in Louth such as hiking, paddleboarding, kayaking and outdoor yoga, 8 women signed up to test out their rowing skills on the River Boyne with Inver Colpa Rowing Club on a beautiful sunny Sunday morning.

Club PRO Sarah McCann noted about the event; “Those who took part had a great morning and given the technical nature of rowing, did really well! There’s so much to think about with timing, rhythm and technique, so a huge well done to all!”.

Helping out on the day as coxes were Glenda Carter and Martin Murphy, while Shirley Byrne, Fiona Kelly, Hannah Woods and Sarah McCann were the club’s female rowers who accompanied the HER Outdoors participants. Thanks also to Tom Scanlon, the club’s Health & Safety Office for taking care of everyone on the day and to the Boyne Fisherman’s River Rescue for giving the participants a tour of their facilities.

The club are currently in training for two upcoming races – Row the Rock in Skerries and the Islandmagee Challenge in Antrim - along with looking forward to the future when it hopes to welcome in new members and continue to grow.

Rowers Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy have done it again, winning gold in the LM2x. The West Cork duo have continued their success streak, adding more silverware to their collection. Overall it was a successful European Championships for the Irish, with two medals and all other crews finishing just outside of the podium positions in fourth place.

Paul and Fintan raced as they always do, a solid start placing them in the middle of the field followed by a significant second half, where they consistently find the speed to pull through every crew ahead. The Swiss double went out hard, leading to the 1k and holding onto the Irish coming into the last quarter. In the end, they just couldn’t keep up with Paul and Fintan, dropping back into third position crossing the line. The Irish crew are no strangers to the podium, and there’s no doubt that they’ll be up there again.

Aoife Casey (UCC RC) was first up today in the A Final of the LW1x. Similar to her repechage yesterday, Aoife had an incredibly quick finish, gaining two seconds on Martine Veldhuis from the Netherlands in third position. Pushing towards the line, Aoife just missed out on the medals by a mere 1.4 seconds.

The PR2 Mix2x of Katie O’Brien (Galway RC) and Steven McGowan (Galway RC) put in a strong showing in their A Final, finishing in fourth position. The Irish double had raced both Poland and France at World Cup II in June, and have shown a significant improvement in times in comparison. Katie and Steven sat 21 seconds behind the Polish in June, and that has been reduced down to 12 seconds today. This PR2 Mix2x is one to watch as there’s much more to come.

In an extremely tight race, the Lightweight Women’s Double of Margaret Cremen and Lydia Heaphy finished just outside of the medals in fourth position. The Irish crew went off like a rocket from the start, rating 56 strokes per minute, and leaving everyone else behind. In the final 1000m it was bow ball to bow ball between themselves and the Italians for third place. In the end, it was the Italian double who pushed ever so slightly ahead, taking the bronze medals by just .64 of a second from Margaret and Lydia.

"It’s great to come away from the European Championships with all crews having reached A Finals and having won two medals.

This is now the minimum standard being reached by the Rowing Ireland team: top six for European events and top 10 for Worlds and Olympics across all categories in an Olympic boat class. We have also learnt a lot from this event which will help us analyse the overall situation of the team as well as finalising crews in the lead-up to the World Championships in September.

A big well done to all the athletes for their performances and particularly to the two medal-winning crews. We had entered eight crews, namely a lot of excitement for the Women's 8, but unfortunately, due to medical reasons two of these crews had to be withdrawn. All the remaining six crews reached the A final (top six) with LM2x gold, W4- silver and all the other four crews performing well in 4th position.

Well done to all coaches. They don't go on the podium but nevertheless, deserve recognition and a medal for their hard work. Well done to our team manager and physio for always being there when we need them. Thank you to the continued support from all of our sponsors, members, supporters and particularly from SI, SNI and our board of directors."

Irish Results

LM2x A Final - Gold medals
W4- A Final - Silver medals
LW2x A Final - 4th place
W2- A Final - 4th place
PR2 Mix2x A Final - 4th place
LW1x A Final - 4th place

The Irish rowers are returning home after a successful World Championships with four medals and a new World Championship best time in the BW1x.

The JM2x of Ciaran O'Sullivan (Lee RC) and Fergus Bryce (CGS BC) were the first Irish crew to take to the water today. After a substantial win in the C/D Semi yesterday, the boys were set to go this morning in the C Final. Ciaran and Fergus were fourth off the start but quickly picked up the pace coming across the 1000m mark in first position. The Irish crew finished with clear water ahead of Greece and Romania, in a time of 6:27.93.

The Women's Quad of Kate Reidy (Lee RC), Lauren McCarthy-Steele (Skibbereen RC), Moya Knowles (Skibbereen RC) and Ayla O'Neill (Kenmare RC) were up next in their B Final. Throughout the race it was the Irish crew and the South African crew battling it out, exchanging positions with only a bow ball between them. In a tight finish, it was the South African crew that nudged ahead and finished .85 of a second faster. Ninth in the world for the young crew this year, and definitely more still to come!

From left to right: Ciaran O’Sullivan (JM2x), Kate Reidy (JW4x), Fergus Bryce (JM2x), Janet Walsh (coach)

Finishing up the World Championships for the Irish team, the JW2x of Holly Davis (Lee Valley RC) and Anna Keating (Shannon RC) placed 6th in their A Final against a tough field. Greece won gold, followed by Italy taking silver and Germany taking bronze.

Rowing Ireland's High Performance Director, Antonio Maurogiovanni said "This year's Junior/U23 World Championships have been one of the most competitive and challenging championships to date.

We selected three junior (JM2x, JW2x and JW4x) and four U23 crews (BM4-, BM2x, BLM2x, BW1x). The very young Junior team, most of them having at least one more junior year, had one crew in the top 13, one in the top 11 and the JW2x in the top six of the world. They have all learnt a lot, and if well supported and encouraged, I'm sure we will see many of them progress well in the future.

JW4x (from left to right): Kate Reidy, Lauren McCarthy Steele, Moya Knowles, Ayla O’Neill

As Afloat reported earlier, four U23 crews were selected, all four reaching the A finals (top six) as well as all four winning a medal. Making this result, the most successful result in Irish U23 history. This result is excellent, and will be almost impossible to repeat without the support of all the clubs and universities rowing programmes.

There has been a lot of preparation and hard work on behalf of the athletes, coaches and staff over the last few months. I want to thank the families and club and university coaches who have supported the athletes along their journey, as well as the crews coach’s of Leah O'Regan, John Armstrong, Nicolo Maurogiovanni, Janet Walsh, head coaches Fran Kean, Dominic Casey, Giuseppe De Vita, and the support staff, Michael O'Rourke. This result could not of been done without the hard work of all involved".

BM4- bronze medallist, Nathan Timoney on the U23 World Championships: "After a savage medal haul for the Irish Team, it has been quite the experience for us athletes. Our success is dedicated back to our clubs, coaches, past and present, my own being Enniskillen Royal Boat Club, QUBBC, and our families and friends supporting us all the way. This week has reflected the continued rise of success for Irish rowing, paving the way for the future, leading up to Paris 2024".

Fermoy RC athlete, Alison Bergin after winning bronze in the BW1x: "The team and myself are delighted to be coming home after such a successful championship. We greatly appreciate all of the support we have been receiving from home this week, and throughout the year. Without them and the support from our clubs, none of this would have been possible".

Irish Results

U23 Championships
BLM2x - Silver
BM2x - Bronze
BM4- - Bronze
BW1x - Bronze

U19 Championships
JW2x - 6th A Final
JW4x - 3rd B Final
JM2x - 1st C Final

The Irish U23 rowing squad have gone four for four, winning a medal in each event that was entered.

Bronze for the BM2x of Brian Colsh and Konan Pazzaia, Bronze for the BM4 - of John Kearney, Nathan Timoney, Adam Murphy and Andrew Sheehan, bronze for the BW1x Alison Bergin, and silver for the BLM2x of Hugh Moore and Ciaran Purdy.

The BM2x started out steady, coming through the first 500m in sixth place and the 1000m in fifth. After that halfway mark, Brian and Konan began to build, and came up through the field to finish in the medal positions. The Irish crew finished only 1.23 seconds off the Macedonian crew that won the silver medals.

Bronze for the BM4- of John Kearney, Nathan Timoney, Adam Murphy and Andrew Sheehan

After the Irish BM4- took home silver at the 2021 World Champs, the new crew of John, Nathan, Adam and Andrew were out for the medals. Right off the start, the Irish crew positioned themselves in third place and carried that through to the finish. Early on in the race, the three leaders began to separate from Romania, Italy and Australia, creating a clear water gap. Holding tough until the end, the boys were able to secure their bronze medals.

Bronze for the BM2x of Brian Colsh and Konan Pazzaia

The QUBBC lightweight double of Hugh and Ciaran, had a phenomenal race, moving through more crews the further into the race they got. After their first 500m, the boys got faster for each quarter, pushing right through to the finish. The finished with the silver medals and a time of 6:36.95.

Silver for the BLM2x of Hugh Moore and Ciaran Purdy

Alison closed off the day with a bronze medal in the BW1x. Up against tough competition, Alison was able to keep her head above it, and hold her third place position throughout the race. Keeping that Irish race style of big finishes, Alison did the last 500m faster than the German and Swiss scullers ahead, finishing only .46 of a second away from the silver medal.

Bronze for the BW1x Alison Bergin

Ciaran O'Sullivan (Lee RC) and Fergus Bryce (CGS BC) put on a great show in the JM2x C/D Semi this morning. Sitting in second place until the final 500m, the boys pushed on and came through the Greek double to take the win.

Next up was the JW4x who qualified for the B Final after placing fifth in their Semi. They will race again tomorrow against Canada, South Africa, Italy, Greece and New Zealand. Holly and Anna in the JW2x flew through their A/B Semi, coming second to the Netherlands and securing their place in the A Final tomorrow afternoon.

The final day of racing takes place on Sunday and the race schedule for Ireland is below. 

Irish Results
BLM2x -> Silver
BM2x -> Bronze
BM4- -> Bronze
BW1x -> Bronze
JW2x -> A Final
JW4x -> B Final
JM2x -> C Final

Sunday Schedule (IST)
JM2x C Final - 9:15am
JW4x B Final - 9:55am
JW2x A Final - 12:40pm

Ireland has seven rowing crews competing this week at the 'Mega Worlds'. The U19 and U23 Championships are being held simultaneously in Varese, Italy. On Tuesday, the U23 crews were out for their heats and this morning (Wednesday) will see the start of the junior racing.

The first crew to take to the water was the BM2x of Konan Pazzaia and Brian Colsh. The QUBBC and NUIG BC duo finished first in their heat and have qualified straight into the A/B Semi taking place on Thursday.

Next up was the BM4- of John Kearney (UCC RC), Andrew Sheehan (Lee RC), Nathan Timoney (QUBBC) and Adam Murphy (Shandon BC). The crew finished second in their heat, with a fast time of 6:00.22. However, with only one crew to qualify straight into the A/B Semi, they will have to race the Repechage on Wednesday.

A full QUBBC crew of Hugh Moore and Ciaran Purdy, started off steady and slowly made their way through the field. The BLM2x crossed the line in third position behind the Netherlands and Belgium, missing out on the direct A/B Semi qualification by just two seconds. They will race again in the hopes of making one of those A/B Semi spots!

Fermoy RC rower, Alison Bergin, started her 2022 Worlds journey yesterday when she raced her heat. An unlucky heat draw put her in the fastest heat, and even with a very fast time of 7:37.07, a fourth place finish meant that she had to race again today in the Repechage. This did not slow her down, as Alison won her rep by almost 18 seconds, qualifying her for the A/B Semi on Friday.

Wednesday morning will see the start of the Junior racing, with the Irish JW2x and JM2x taking to the water.

Wednesday Schedule (IST)

• JW2x Heat - 8:30am
• JM2x Heat - 9:10am
• BM4- Rep - 1:25pm
• BLM2x Rep - 1:55pm

Paul O'Donovan has upheld his streak of success, winning gold in his return to the international rowing scene, as well as setting a new World Cup Record. Paul was the only Irish athlete competing this weekend at World Cup III in Lucerne, Switzerland and was accompanied by Dominic Casey, the High-Performance Lightweight coach.

The Skibbereen rower, currently studying and racing for University College Cork, stormed his heat, winning it by 7 seconds. With this performance, he was going straight into the A/B Semi this morning with the fastest time. Lukasz Sawicki from Poland and Finn Wolter from Germany were both unable to race the Semi due to illness, which reduced the field to four boats.

As usual, Paul started steady, and slowly but surely came through each of the crews as they progressed through the 2k. In a tight race, only three crews could qualify for the A Final, and the Algerian sculler was just .75 of a second short of that qualifying position.

Paul finished off the event with his fastest race, coming across the finish line with a time of 6:47.15, a new World Cup record.

Rowing Ireland’s High-Performance Director, Antonio Maurogiovanni, said: "We are delighted with Paul’s performance, and to see him coming away from World Cup III with the gold medal. After good racing here, and in Poznan, we look forward to Europeans and the World Championships in the coming months".

It has been a hugely successful World Cup II for the Irish rowing crews in Poznan. Out of the eight crews competing, six of them are coming home with medals. Ireland has ranked fourth out of the medal hauls from the event.

Katie O'Brien and Steven McGowan started off the morning of A Finals in the PR2 Mix2x. Against tough competition, the new Irish crew placed fourth in the final. With Katie's dominant win in the PR2 W1x yesterday, and the collected rowing displayed in the mixed 2x, there's a lot more to come from this Galway crew.

The W2- of Emily Hegarty and Fiona Murtagh set off the medal streak with a bronze medal in their final. Coming up to the halfway mark the crew were bow ball to bow ball with the crew from Czech Republic. With each stroke, the crew in that third place position swapped back and forth, but it was the rowers from NUIG and UCC that held out and secured the medals.

Half an hour later, it was Sanita Puspure and Zoe Hyde who had their time on the podium. In the medal positions from the start, the crew went out as they intended to finish. Coming into the last few hundred meters the Chinese crew put in a big push to try to come through the Irish, but the Irish crew made it over the line first and secured their silver medals.

Zoe Hyde (left) and Sanita Puspure with their W2x World Cup II Silver Medals

The LW2x of Margaret Cremen from UCC and Lydia Heaphy from Skibbereen RC came into the finish line with not only the bronze medals, but one of the most exciting races of the day. The Irish double took off the starting blocks at a rate of 55 strokes per minute, leaving the rest of the field behind in those first few strokes. As the race developed, USA and Australia began to pull away but there was nothing separating the rest of the crews. Approaching the finish line, there was no telling who was coming home with the medals. It came down to a photo finish between the crew from Ireland and the crew from China, but it was the Irish that made it across first and won the bronze medals. In the end, there was only 0.3 seconds separating the crews from second place to fourth place.

Finishing off World Cup II on a high, the W4- of Eimear Lambe (Old Collegians BC), Tara Hanlon (UCC), Aifric Keogh (DULBC), and Natalie Long (Killorglin RC) came in winning the bronze medal and rounding up the Irish medal tally to six. An impressive final burst in the last 500m, moved the Irish crew from fifth place up to the bronze medal position. There was nothing that the crews from USA and New Zealand could do to stop the Irish coming through them, as they were the fastest boat on the water coming into the finish.

Rowing Ireland’s High-Performance Director, Antonio Maurogiovanni, said: "We are delighted with the results from this weekend's racing. Taking home six medals across para, lightweight and heavyweight rowing is a difficult feat. We hope to continue this momentum through the rest of the racing season. Congratulations to Katie O'Brien on her gold medal and new world record, as well as all of the Irish athletes on their medal wins and strong performances."

Rowing Ireland’s CEO, Michelle Carpenter, said: "It's been exciting for our team to get back out to World Cup racing and return to one of our favourite courses in Poznan, Poland. This infamous World regatta course is where many of our athletes raced during their junior pathways.

With six out of eight crews medalling putting us in a good position, we are pleased now that the team have a pulse check going into the World Championships and ultimately the Paris Olympic cycle.

Well done to our dedicated HP team Director, Antonio, our incredible team of coaches and staff, Giuseppe, Dominic, Conor and Michael and all our competing athletes backed up by our HP committee and committed board. A massive thank you to Sport Ireland and Sport NI and our loyal sponsors who continue to support us on our journey."

Irish Results at Poznan

PR2 W1x - Katie O'Brien - Gold Medal (World Record)
LM1x - Fintan McCarthy - Silver Medal
LM1x - Gary O'Donovan - 5th B Final
PR2 Mix2x - Katie O'Brien, Steven McGowan - 4th Place
W2- Fiona Murtagh, Emily Hegarty - Bronze Medal
W2x - Zoe Hyde, Sanita Puspure - Silver Medal
LW2x - Margaret Cremen, Lydia Heaphy - Bronze Medal
W4- Eimear Lambe, Tara Hanlon, Aifric Keogh, Natalie Long - Bronze Medal

Rowing Ireland had eight crews racing in the heats at World Cup II in Poznan.

Five of the crews qualified directly to the A/B Semi-Final, the two PR2 crews go straight to the A finals from their test races and one crew will compete in the Repechage on Saturday morning.

The first Irish crew at the start line was the W2- yesterday evening for their heat. The crew came third in their heat and with only one crew to qualify straight to the A Final, they'll be racing in the Repechage tomorrow morning. The pair of Fiona Murtagh and Emily Hegarty is a new combination, however, they have some experience rowing together as they raced alongside each other in the W4- at the Tokyo Olympics, coming home with the bronze medal.

Next up was the PR2 Mix2x of Katie O'Brien and Steven McGowan. Their first competition was last month at the International Para-Rowing Regatta in Gavirate, where the crew came 4th in the Final. The test race this morning showed great racing with all crews within eight seconds of each other. The A Final will go ahead on Sunday, where the Galway RC crew can try to improve their 4th place test race finish. Katie was kept on her toes today racing the PR2 W1x later in the afternoon. With a commanding lead, Katie finished first in the test race and will race again tomorrow in the A Final. Having won the bronze medal at the 2019 World Championships we'll be looking forward to hopefully seeing Katie on the podium again.

Both Fintan McCarthy and Gary O'Donovan raced the LM1x this morning. With very strong racing in their heats, the two rowers from Skibbereen qualified straight through to the A/B Semi with Fintan winning his heat and Gary placing second. We will see them race again tomorrow where they will be looking to try make it into the A Final.

Another new combination in the Irish crews was the W4- of Eimear Lambe, Tara Hanlon, Aifric Keogh and Natalie Long. Even with the new 4- combination, all athletes are well established with Eimear and Aifric being part of the bronze medal Olympic 4-, Tara competing at a number of World Rowing events from Junior through to Senior level and qualifying as the Olympic spare last year, and Natalie who has also competed internationally over the last number of years, as well as placing 4th at the World Coastal Championships last year in the Women's Quad. The crew finished second in their heat and are straight through to the A/B Semi tomorrow morning.

The final two Irish crews were the W2x of Sanita Puspure and Zoe Hyde, and the LW2x of Margaret Cremen and Lydia Heaphy. Both crews qualified straight into their A/B Semis with the W2x winning their heat and the LW2x coming in with a very close second place. Having previously been used to seeing Sanita race in her single, she has gained a double partner, Zoe who was also in the Women's Quad with Natalie Long that placed 4th at the World Coastal Championships in Portugal last year.

Provisional Saturday Race Schedule (IST)

LM1x A/B Semi (Gary) ~ 9:30am
LM1x A/B Semi (Fintan) ~ 9:30am
W2- Rep ~ 9:40am
W2x A/B Semi ~ 10:00am
W4- A/B Semi ~ 10:20am
LW2x A/B Semi ~ 10:50am
PR2 W1x A Final ~ 14:20pm

Friday Results
W2- Heat ~ 3rd
PR2 Mix2x Test Race ~ 4th
LM1x Heat (Gary) ~ 2rd
LM1x Heat (Fintan) ~ 1st
W4- Heat ~ 2nd
W2x Heat ~ 1st
LW2x Heat ~ 2nd
PR2 W1x (Katie) ~ 1st