#Rowing: The Ireland lightweight double of Paul and Gary O’Donovan finished fifth in the A Final at the European Rowing Championships in Poznan, Poland, this morning. France set a new European best time with a classy win, while Britain (with Richard Chambers in the bow seat) took silver. Ireland were in sixth through the first three quarters of the race but passed Turkey in the final 500 metres.

In the women’s lightweight doubles, Ireland’s Claire Lambe and Denise Walsh finished sixth. They had held that position through the race. In a race won with a runaway performance by Britain’s Charlotte Taylor and Kat Copeland, Ireland were in touch with the rest of the field until the closing stages when they did not match the finishing speed of the other five crews.

 Joel Cassells and Peter Chambers won the lightweight pair for Britain. Both had represented Ireland at underage level.

European Rowing Championships, Poznan, Day Two (Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Pair – A Final: 1 Britain (J Cassells, P Chambers) 6:28.58.

Lightweight Double Sculls – A Final: 1 France (S Delayre, J Azou) 6:11.38, 2 Britain (R Chambers, W Fletcher) 6:14.33, 3 Norway 6:15.53; 5 Ireland 6:21.89.

Women

Pair, B Final (Places 7 to 12): 1 Czech Republic 7:16.56, 2 Spain 7:17.04, 3 Ireland (L Kennedy, M Dukarska) 7:20.37.

Lightweight Double Sculls – A Final: 1 Britain 7:00.71, 2 Germany 7:05.27, 3 Poland 7:05.36; 6 Ireland (C Lambe, D Walsh) 7:13.41.

Lightweight Single Sculls, B Final (Places 7 to 12): 1 Denmark (R Holmegaard) 7:40.62, 2 Ireland (S Jennings) 7:45.64, 3 Netherlands 7:49.94.

#Rowing: Ireland’s men’s and women’s lightweight double sculls qualified for A Finals at the European Rowing Championships in Poznan, Poland this morning. The O’Donovan brothers, Paul and Gary, raced very well, putting themselves into contention for a crucial third place in the middle of the race, and then securing it with a good closing 500 metres. Britain’s William Fletcher and Richard Chambers won well. Claire Lambe and Denise Walsh had to come through an exciting finish to secure third. Poland won, with Denmark, Ireland and Russia taking the second to fourth placings. Ireland were just .17 of a second ahead of Russia on the line.

The Ireland women’s pair of Monika Dukarska and Leonora Kennedy finished fifth in their semi-final, and Sinéad Jennings fourth in the semi-final of the lightweight women’s single sculls.

European Rowing Championships, Poznan, Day Two (Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Double Sculls – A/B Semi-Final One (Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Britain (R Chambers, W Fletcher) 6:16.83, 2 Norway 6:21.02, 3 Ireland (P O’Donovan, G O’Donovan) 6:22.89; 4 Czech Republic 6:27.58, 5 Austria 6:31.75, 6 Greece 6:41.41.

Women

Pair – A/B Semi-Final One (Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Netherlands 7:05.80, 2 Romania 7:09.40,3 France 7:13.10; 4 Czech Republic 7:14.97, 5 Ireland (L Kennedy, M Dukarska) 7:30.00, 6 Germany 7:34.45.

Lightweight Double Sculls – A/B Semi-Final One (Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Poland 6:58.39, 2 Denmark 7:02.24, 3 Ireland (C Lambe, D Walsh) 7:02.82; 4 Russia 7:02.99, 5 Romania 7:03.82, 6 Czech Republic 7:17.73.

Lightweight Single Sculls – A/B Semi-Final One (Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Russia 7:42.99, 2 Lithuania 7:44.09, 3 Britain 7:44.62; 4 Ireland (S Jennings) 7:45.99, 5 Austria 7:58.39, 6 Latvia 8:02.81.

#ROWING: Ireland’s lightweight double scull of Claire Lambe and Denise Walsh came second to Russia in their C Final at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam this morning. The Russian crew of Diana Stepochkina and Olga Arkadova led all the way down the course, with Ireland snapping at their heels. But the Irish fell short by just under a boat length. The result places Lambe and Walsh 14th overall in this Olympic-class event.

World Rowing Championships, Amsterdam, Day Six (Irish interest, selected results)

Women

Lightweight Double Sculls – C Final (Places 13 to 18): 1 Russia (D Stepochkina, O Arkadova) 6:58.21, 2 Ireland (C Lambe, D Walsh) 7:00.11, 3 Denmark 7:03.49, 4 Switzerland 7:03.51, 5 Belarus 7:09.08, 6 Greece 7:14.20.

#ROWING: Ireland’s lightweight double scull of Claire Lambe and Denise Walsh finished second in a remarkably close C/D Semi-Final of the World Rowing Championships this morning in Amsterdam, and thus qualified for the C Final. Russia held the lead for most of the race, but Denmark and Ireland pulled level with them in the closing stages and the fourth combatant, Argentina, closed up on these three. Denmark won, from Ireland and Russia, with all three boats covered by .67 of a second; Argentina were .59 of a second behind Russia, but go to the D Final.

World Rowing Championships, Day Five (Irish interest; selected results)

Women

Pair – Semi-Final Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 United States (M Kalmoe, K Simmonds) 7:16.35, 2 New Zealand (L Trappitt, R Scown) 7:22.12, 3 Australia (C Sutherland, L Stephan) 7:30.02; 4 Serbia 7:34.92, 5 Ireland (L Kennedy, L Dilleen) 7:35.18, 6 Czech Republic 7:45.68.

Lightweight Double Sculls - C/D Semi-Final (First Three to C Final; rest to D Final): 1 Denmark 7:25.98, 2 Ireland (C Lambe, D Walsh) 7:26.35, 3 Russia 7:26.65; 4 Argentina 7:27.24.

#ROWING: Claire Lambe and Denise Walsh finished third in their heat of the lightweight double sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam today. Just one crew qualified directly for the semi-finals and Lambe and Walsh were competitive and did not let early leaders Germany break away from them. However, Australia finished faster than both and won the race.

World Rowing Championships, Amsterdam (Selected Results; Irish interest)

Men
Lightweight Single Sculls – Heat Two (First Four Directly to Quarter-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Portugal (P Fraga) 6:53.62, Australia (P Ward) 6:54.96, 3 Ireland (P O’Donovan) 6:57.65,

4 China (Jingbin Zhao) 7:03.13; 5 Slovakia 7:04.81, 6 Quatar 9:52.93.

Women

Pair – Heat Two (First Three Directly to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Britain (H Glover, H Stanning) 7:04.64, 2 Ireland (L Kennedy, L Dilleen) 7:15.29, 3 Canada (J Martins, K Bauder) 7:04.64; 4 Serbia 7:21.06, 5 Russia 7:24.48.

Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat One (Winner to A/B Semi-Final; rest to Repechage): 1 Australia (A McNamara, E Flecker) 6:57.15; 2 Germany 7:00.24, 3 Ireland (C Lambe, D Walsh) 7:01.23, 4 Russia 7:02.71, 5 Denmark 7:07.89.

#ROWING: Eimear Lambe finished 11th of the 24 competitors in the junior single sculls at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing in China. The 17-year-old Commercial oarswoman took fifth in the B Final this morning behind winner Thea Helseth of Norway. Belarussian sculler Krystsina Staraselets won gold. Lambe, who turned 17 while in China, has another year left as a junior.

Youth Olympic Games, Nanjing (Irish Interest, Selected Result)

Women

Junior Single Sculls – B Final (Places 7 to 12): 1 Norway 3:59.28; 5 Ireland (E Lambe) 4:03.82.

#ROWING: Eimear Lambe finished sixth in her semi-final of the junior women’s single sculls and will compete in tomorrow’s B Final at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing in China. The race was won by Krystsina Staraselets of Belarus and Bulgaria and Paraguay also qualified for the A Final. Lambe, from the Commercial club in Dublin, was seven seconds off qualification.  

Youth Olympic Games, Nanjing, China (Irish interest, selected results)

Women

Junior Single Sculls – Semi-Final Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final); 1 Belarus 3:52.02; 6 Ireland (E Lambe) 4:02.39.

#ROWING: Ireland’s Eimear Lambe qualified for the A/B semi-finals of the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing in China this morning. The 17-year-old Dubliner, a sister of senior Ireland international Claire, took the second qualification spot behind Anna Thornton of Britain. Lambe is drawn to compete in the first semi-final at 3.40 am Irish time tomorrow (Tuesday) morning.

Youth Olympic Games, Nanjing, China (Irish interest, selected results)

Women

Junior Single Sculls – Repechage Two (First Two to A/B Semi-Finals): 1 Britain (A Thornton) 3:53.67, 2 E Lambe 3:55.00; 3 Denmark 3:57.54, 4 Japan 4:00.57, 5 Argentina 4:06.26.

#ROWING: Eimear Lambe finished fifth in her heat of the junior women’s single sculls at the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing in China this morning. Just one qualified directly from the heat so the Commercial sculler is now set for the repechage tomorrow (Monday).

Youth Olympic Games, Nanjing, China (Irish interest, selected results)

Women

Junior Single Sculls – Heat Four (Winner Directly to A/B Semi-Finals): 1 Lithuania 3:48.20; 5 E Lambe 3:57.00.

#ROWING: Two of the big wins of the evening session of finals at the Irish Rowing Championships at the National Rowing Centre in Cork came to crews with very different levels of experience.

The Cork Boat Club junior women’s eight made a breakthrough for the club at this level by beating Portora and Bann in a fine race. The senior men’s quadruple was taken by the crew of Albert Maher, Sean Jacob, Con Collis and Michael Maher, who held off a challenge from the Castleconnell/University of Limerick crew. Jacob and Maher are both in their forties and have over 40 ‘Pots’ between them.

The women’s senior pair was won by Barbara O’Brien and Aifric Keogh, representing NUIG, while Sarah Quinn of Belfast Boat Club won the Club singles.

The junior men’s quadruple gave Shandon’s young crew – two are junior 17 athletes and one a junior 16 – a fine win over Skibbereen, who faltered before the finish.

The women’s lightweight single sculls final turned into a battle between Claire Lambe of Old Collegians and Siobhán McCrohan of Tribesmen, with the Dubliner coming out on top.

Turlough Hughes of UCD had a remarkably straightforward win over David O’Malley of St Michael’s in the men’s intermediate single sculls, while UCD held off a late charge by Queen’s to win the men’s novice eight.

Irish Rowing Championships, National Rowing Centre, Cork (Selected Results; Finals)

Men

Eight – Intermediate: 1 Trinity 5:46.25, 2 NUIG 5:50.28, 3 UCD 5:56.96. Novice: 1 UCD 6:59.50, 2 Queen’s 7:02.31, 3 Trinity 7:03.29.

Four, coxed – Junior: 1 Cork BC 6:35.99, 2 Presentation 6:36.22, 3 Portora 6:38.08.

Pair – Senior: 1 UCD (M O’Donovan, N Kenny) 6:46.05, 2 NUIG 6:49.95, 3 Commercial B 7:00.16.

Sculling, Quadruple – Senior: 1 Old Collegians/Commercial (C Collis, S Jacob, A Maher, M Maher) 5:59.84, 2 Castleconnell/University of Limerick 6:00.60, 3 Queen’s 6:07.90.

Junior: 1 Shandon 6:08.24, 2 Athlone 6:13.34, 3 Skibbereen 6:15.52.

Single – Intermediate: 1 UCD (T Hughes) 7:13.0, 2 St Michael’s (O’Malley) 7:20.72, 3 NUIG (O’Connor) 7:25.14. Club: Lee (D O’Sullivan) 7:31.80, 2 St Michael’s (P O’Connor) 7:36.24, 3 Belfast BC (A Murray) 7:39.44.

Women

Eight – Novice: 1 Queen’s 7:19.74, 2 Trinity 7:55.75. Junior: 1 Cork BC 6:39.32, 2 Portora 6:41.90, 3 Bann 6:45.27.

Sculling, Double – Intermediate: 1 Killorglin (F Foley, M Dukarska) 7:17.17, 2 Commercial 7:20.83, 3 Skibbereen 7:39.99.

Pair – Senior: 1 NUIG (B O’Brien, A Keogh) 7:33.89, 2 St Michael’s 7:42.32, 3 Shannon 7:42.48.

Single – Lightweight: 1 Old Collegians (C Lambe) 7:41.70, 2 Tribesmen (McCrohan) 7:43.80, 3 Skibbereen (Hayes) 8:01.34. Club: 1 Belfast (S Quinn) 8:09.22, 2 Queen’s (Edwards) 8:10.61, 3 Lee (McGuire) 8:39.69.

Junior: 1 Cork BC (O Forde) 8:06.14, 2 Belfast BC (J English) 8:07.11, 3 Commercial B 7:00.16.