#Rowing: Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy brought the tally of Ireland A Finalists at the World Cup Regatta in Rotterdam to four with a second-placed finish in their semi-final. Germany's Jason Osborne and Jonathan Rommelmann, racing in the favoured lane one were the dominant crew, but the new Ireland lightweight double finished fast, coming to just about a length on the line.

The Ireland women's lightweight double were out in lane six in the revised lane draw in their semi and finished sixth. Lydia Heaphy and Denise Walsh are set for a B Final.

World Cup Regatta, Rotterdam, Day Two (Irish interest; morning session)

Men

Double Sculls - Semi-Final Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Ireland (P Doyle, R Byrne) 6:33.47, 2 Germany 6:36.17, 3 Australia One 6:38.62

Lightweight Double Sculls - Semi-Final Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Germany One 6:42.04, 2 Ireland (F McCarthy, P O'Donovan) 6:43.70, 3 Australia 6:50.80.

Lightweight Single Sculls - Semi-Final Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Slovenia 7:22.30, 2 3 Ireland One (G O'Donovan) 7:25.89, 3 Switzerland 7:27.70; 4 Ireland Two (J McCarthy) 7:34.79.

Women

Pair - Semi-Final One (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Romania One 7:34.61, 2 Ireland (A Crowley, M Dukarska) 7:37.87, 3 Spain 7:39.49.

Lightweight Double Sculls - Semi-Final Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 6 Ireland (L Heaphy, D Walsh) 7:49.87.

#Rowing: Paul O’Donovan will team up with Fintan McCarthy in the lightweight double at the World Cup Regatta in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, from July 12^th to 14^th. Gary O’Donovan and Jake McCarthy will compete in lightweight singles.

 World and European champion Sanita Puspure will hope to continue her winning run in the single.  Monika Dukarska and Aileen Crowley form a pair and Denise Walsh and Lydia Heaphy will compete again in the lightweight double, as will Ronan Byrne and Philip Doyle in the men’s openweight double.  

Ireland Crews for World Rowing Cup Three, Rotterdam, July 12^th to 14^th

Men

Double: R Byrne, P Doyle

Lightweight Double: F McCarthy, P O’Donovan

Lightweight Singles: G O’Donovan; J McCarthy

Women

Pair: M Dukarska, A Crowley

Single: S Puspure

Lightweight Double: D Walsh, L Heaphy

#Rowing: Gary and Paul O'Donovan, the world champions in the lightweight double, won a key race at the Ireland trials today. Fintan and Jake McCarthy were two lengths behind the O'Donovans with 400 metres to go, but tightened it to a length on the line. The trials go on, with tests of different combinations.

Conditions at the National Rowing Centre were remarkably good.

#Rowing: Sanita Puspure and Paul O’Donovan are the Rowers of the Month for January 2019.

 The two world champions turned up for action at the Irish Indoor Rowing Championships at the University of Limerick – and both set new records for the event.

 O’Donovan set a new mark as a lightweight of six minutes 6.2 seconds, while Puspure recorded 6:35.9. This matched her best and also set a new Irish record.

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times and David O'Brien, Editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2019 champions list grow.

#Rowing: The Irish Indoor Rowing Championships at the University of Limerick featured a good collection of personal bests – and Irish records. Sanita Puspure, the world champion in the single scull, pushed the women’s record to a top-class six minutes 35.9 seconds. Aifric Keogh and Monika Dukarska, who placed second and third, also showed the benefits of the recent training camp in Italy as they set new personal best times.

Paul O’Donovan, the world champion in the lightweight double scull, brought the Ireland lightweight record down to 6:06.2. Fionnan Crowley, the big heavyweight from Castleconnell, won the men’s open category – he was the one competitor to break the six-minute barrier on the day.

Alex Byrne of Shandon set a new record in the under-23 men’s grade, while Neptune’s Tristan Orlic won the junior men’s gold with a fine time of 6:16.7. Zoe McCutcheon of Enniskillen topped the junior women’s rankings.

Irish Indoor Rowing Championships, University of Limerick, Saturday (Selected Results)

Men

Open: F Crowley (Castleconnell) 5:59.6, 2 P Boomer (Belfast RC) 6:10.2, 3 G Patterson (Sligo) 6:14.5. Under 23: 1 A Byrne (Shandon) 6:04.6. 2 R Corrigan (Queen’s) 6:09.2, 3 D Breen (UCC) 6:11.8.

Lightweight: P O’Donovan (UCC) 6:06.2, 2 J McCarthy (Skibbereen) 6:17.1, 3 F McCarthy (Skibbereen) 6:18.6.

U-23 Lightweight: H Sutton (UCC) 6:22.4, 2 M Taylor (Queen’s) 6:24.2, 3 N Beggan (Commercial) 6:25.3.

Jun 18: 1 T Orlic (Neptune) 6:16.7, 2 J O’Donovan (Castleconnell) 6:19.3, 3 M Gallagher (St Joseph’s) 6:20.1. Jun 16: M O’Grady (Athlone) 6:43.6.

Women

Open: 1 S Puspure (Old Collegians) 6:35.9. 2 A Keogh (UCC) 6:45.4, 3 M Dukarska (Killorglin) 6:49.3. Under-23: 1 E Hegarty (UCC) 6:55.7, 2 E Lambe (UCD) 6:58.9, 3 T Hanlon (UCC) 7:08.7.

Lightweight: D Walsh (Skibbereen) 7:17.1. U-23 Lightweight: A Casey (UCC) 7:23.7, 2 L Heaphy (Skibbereen) 7:33.7, 3 A Keating (Skibbereen) 7:42.0.

Jun 18: 1 Z McCutcheon (Enniskillen) 7:12.4, C Kirwan (St Michael’s) 7:15.0, 3 R O’Donoghue (Killorglin) 7:15.1. Jun 16: A Moloney (Commercial) 7:30.2.

UCC were the top club overall.

#Rowing: The Afloat Rower of the Year 2018 is Sanita Puspure. The Old Collegians competitor proved herself the best single sculler in the world. She took silver at the World Cup regattas in Belgrade and Lucerne, running the defending champion, Jeannine Gmelin of Switzerland, extremely close (.23 of a second) in the Lucerne final.

Working with coach Dave McKenzie McGowan and high performance director Antonio Maurogiovanni, who set a very heavy training schedule, Puspure decided to miss the European Championships so that she could concentrate on the World Championships in Plovdiv in Bulgaria in September. She won her heat and semi-final, and then overcame bobbly conditions in the final. She established a clearwater lead. Gmelin came back at her in the third quarter; Puspure was not for catching. She won by two lengths of clear water.

Sanita Puspure (centre) smiles after being presented with her gold medal at the World Championships. Jeannine Gmelin (silver) is on the left and Magdalena Lobnig (bronze) on the right. Photo: Liam Gorman

Sanita with Daniella and Patrick, her children, after winning World Championship gold. Photo: Liam Gorman

The win was a twin highlight at the end of a wonderful year. The O’Donovan brothers, Gary and Paul, won the lightweight double sculls gold in Plovdiv, making history as the first Ireland crew to take World Championship gold in an Olympic boat. They overcame terrible conditions and a poor lane draw to win in the quarter-final. This was succeeded by a semi-final in which they looked tired and could only take third. The final saw them in the unfavoured lane six for the final.

Ireland gold medalists Gary and Paul O'Donovan on the World Championship podium in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, with Italy (silver) and Belgium (bronze)

In a stirring race, the Skibbereen men saw off Italy. They would describe it as the best race they had ever rowed. They were outstanding in their steadiness, and over the second, third and fourth quarters they were the fastest crew. They took over the lead from Italy between 1200 and 1500 metres and rebuffed the charge by the men in blue to win by three-quarters of a length.

 In a first for a women’s sweep crew from this island in an Olympic boat, Aifric Keogh and Emily Hegarty, the Ireland women’s pair, also reached an A Final at the World Championships. The World Under-23 Championships were also laden with success, with four A Finalists, gold for Shane Mulvaney and David O’Malley in the lightweight pair and silver for Miles Taylor, Niall Beggan, Ryan Ballantine and Andrew Goff in the lightweight quadruple.

 Come the Fisa World Rowing Awards, Dominic Casey was honoured as the coach of the year.  

 In a season of success, Sanita Puspure is the Afloat Rower of the Year.

Afloat Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times, and David O'Brien, editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year appeared on afloat.ie.

#Rowing: Dominic Casey has been chosen as the World Rowing Coach of the Year. The Skibbereen man, who coached Paul and Gary O’Donovan to a World Championship gold medal this year, received the award at a gala in Berlin. He had also been nominated in 2016 and 2017. In these years he oversaw the first Olympic medal for Ireland rowing, when the O’Donovan brothers took silver in Rio de Janeiro, and a string of gold medals for Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll in the lightweight pair. In 2017, lightweight single sculler Denise Walsh also took silver in the European Championships and a World Cup silver.

  Other awards on a glittering night went to the Australian men’s four, who were named the male crew of the year ahead of Paul and Gary O’Donovan, and the Poland quadruple, who took the women’s crew of the year, an award for which Sanita Puspure was nominated.

 The 2018 World Rowing Para Crew of the Year is the Dutch PR2 mixed double of Annika van der Meer and Corne de Koning. The Sri Lankan oarsman and university student, Amidu Silva, won the 2018 Filippi Spirit Award.

 The World Rowing Sustainability Award was taken by Alan Robinson and Schuylkill Navy for Love Where you Row.

 The 2018 Distinguished Service to International Rowing award was won by Borge Kaas Andersen of  Denmark.

#Rowing: Sanita Puspure, the O’Donovan brothers and Ireland lightweight coach Dominic Casey have all been chosen as finalists for the World Rowing Awards 2018. Puspure won gold in the women’s single sculls and Paul and Gary O’Donovan won the lightweight double, coached by Casey, at the World Rowing Championships.

 Just two crews, along with Puspure, are in the running for Women’s Crew of the Year, while there are four crews in the finals of Men’s Crew of the Year and for Coach of the Year. Casey has reached the final three years in-a-row.

 The awards will be presented on November 23rd in Berlin.

Finalists for the 2018 World Rowing Awards 

Women’s Crew of the Year

• Caileigh Filmer, Hillary Janssens, Canada, Women’s pair
• Sanita Puspure, Ireland, Women’s single sculls
• Agnieszka Kobus-Zawojska, Marta Wieliczko, Maria Springwald, Katarzyna Zillmann, Poland, Women’s quadruple sculls

Men’s Crew of the Year

• Joshua Hicks, Spencer Turrin, Jack Hargreaves, Alexander Hill, Australia, Men’s four
• Jason Osborne, Germany, Lightweight men’s single sculls
• Johannes Weissenfeld, Felix Wimberger, Maximilian Planer, Torben Johannesen, Jakob Schneider, Malte Jakschik, Richard Schmidt, Hannes Ocik, Martin Sauer (coxswain), Germany, Men’s eight
• Paul O’Donovan, Gary O’Donovan, Ireland, Lightweight men’s double sculls

Para-rowing Crew of the Year

• Perle Bouge, France, Para PR2 women’s single sculls
• Ellen Buttrick, Grace Clough, Oliver Stanhope, Daniel Brown, Erin Wysocki-Jones (coxswain), Great Britain, Para PR3 mixed coxed four
• Annika van der Meer, Corne de Koning, Netherlands, Para PR2 mixed double sculls

Coach of the Year

• Uwe Bender, Germany, Men’s eight
• Dominic Casey, Ireland, Men’s pair, lightweight men’s and women’s double sculls, lightweight men’s quadruple sculls
• Jan Klerks, Netherlands, Para-rowing team
• Laurel Korholz, United States, Women’s four, women’s single sculls

2018 Sustainability Award

• “Pushing for a Clean Sweep”, National Schools Regatta, Great Britain
• “Partnership with Waikato Water Authority”, Rowing NZ, New Zealand
• “Love Where you Row”, Alan Robinson/Schuylkill Navy, United States

#Rowing: Ireland’s gold medallists at the World Championships, Paul and Gary O’Donovan and Sanita Puspure, are the Afloat Rowers of the Month for September.

 The whole Ireland team performed with merit at the regatta in Plovdiv in Bulgaria and there were a number of outstanding placings. The men’s lightweight quadruple reached their A Final, while Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne finished ninth overall in the men’s double sculls.

Gary and Paul on the podium in Plovdiv with Italy and Belgium Photo: Liam Gorman

 The women’s pair of Aifric Keogh and Emily Hegarty swept into the A Final, one of the real shocks of the Championships. They took sixth.

 The O’Donovan brothers had to battle through a terrible lane draw on the Wednesday to reach Thursday’s semi-final. It left them tired and they made it through to the final by taking the third qualification place in the semi-final with just 1.52 seconds to spare over Poland. Come the final it was a step up; a step into history. They made light of their outside lane with a sweet and powerful row they deemed their best ever as a lightweight double. Italy could not live with it and Ireland had won their first ever gold medal in an Olympic event at a World Championships.

Sanita Puspure on the podium in Plovdiv Photo: Liam Gorman

 The women’s single sculls has been a fascinating event for years. Australia’s Kim Crow (now Brennan) was the star who shone all the way to a golden show in Rio in 2016; latterly Switzerland’s Jeannine Gmelin has been a winner. And now the time had come for Ireland’s Sanita Puspure. She won the heat and the semi-finals with elan, as if impatient to take on and beat Gmelin. She did this despite having to deal with choppy conditions in the final and she clipped a buoy. However, Puspure was never headed from early on, and she won with over two lengths to spare. For seven minutes and 20.12 seconds she was, indeed, dominant.

 Congratulations to all the Ireland teams this season and to the Afloat Rowers of the Month, Sanita Puspure and Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan.   

Rower of the Month awards: The judging panel is made up of Liam Gorman, rowing correspondent of The Irish Times and David O'Brien, Editor of Afloat magazine. Monthly awards for achievements during the year will appear on afloat.ie. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2018 champions list grow.

#Rowing: A big and enthusiastic crowd greeted rowers from the Ireland World Championships team at the National Rowing Centre today. Aifric Keogh and Emily Hegarty, who reached the final of the women’s pair, joined gold medallists Sanita Puspure, Paul O’Donovan and Gary O’Donovan.

The Minister of State with responsibility for Sport, Brendan Griffin, told the rowers and the crowd that he was fighting for funding at cabinet level, while the Cork County Mayor, Patrick Gerard Murphy, made an eloquent speech about how the present team inspire others.

Outside, the All Ireland Youth and Irish Open Regatta reflected the enthusiasm and ambition of the contenders for top spots. Lee woman Margaret Cremen was a convincing winner of the single sculls, while Fintan McCarthy – who was exempt, as he had competed at the World Championships – went ahead and won the men’s single.

Earlier Jack Dorney of Shandon and Aoife Lynch of Lee won the junior singles.

Irish Open Regatta, National Rowing Centre, Cork, September 29^th

Men

Four: UCD (senior). Under-23: Coláiste Iognáid (jun).

Pair: NUIG (D Buckley, E Whittle; sen). Under-23: UCD. Jun: Commercial.

Sculling

Double: St Michael’s/UCC (sen). Under-23: Three Castles (jun)

Single: Skibbereen (F McCarthy; sen). Under-23: Queen’s (M Taylor). Jun: Enniskillen (O Donaghy)

Women

Four: Colaiste Iognaid A (jun)

Pair: UCC/Skibbereen (T Hanlon, N Casey; sen). U-23: Bann/Neptune. Jun: St Michael’s A.

Sculling

Double: Neptune/Bann (sen). U-23: Killorglin (jun).

Single: UCC (M Cremen, Under-23). NUIG (O’Connor; first senior). Jun: Lee (A Lynch).

Youth Regatta (Selected)

Men

Sculling, Quadruple, Junior 16, coxed: St Michael’s. Single, Jun 16: Kenmare (Kelly)

Women

Sculling, Quadruple, Junior 16, coxed: St Michael’s. Single, Jun 16: Lee Valley (Davis)