#ROWING: Mark O’Donovan ended his participation at the World Cup Regatta in Aiguebelette on a high today. He was entered in the lightweight single sculls after his lightweight pairs partner Niall Kenny had to pull out, but O’Donovan won the C Final this morning. His remarkable drive to the line took him past Aymen Mejri of Tunisia, who had dominated the race to that point. The win placed O’Donovan 13th overall.

The women’s double of Monika Dukarska and Eimear Moran finished second in their C Final, 14th overall and John Keohane in the the same position in the D Final of the open single sculls, 20th overall.

World Cup Regatta, Aiguebelette, France, Day Two (Selected Results, Irish interest)

Men

Single Sculls – D Final (Places 19 to 23): 1 Bulgaria 7:14.01, 2 Ireland (J Keohane) 7:16.48, 3 China 7:19.41.

Lightweight Single Sculls – Semi-Final Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Germany Two (J Schoemann-Finck) 7:00.71, 2 Bulgaria (V Nedelcho) 7:03.69, 3 France (D Piqueras) 7:04.23; 4 Ireland One (P O’Donovan) 7:06.99, 5 Switzerland One 7:14.8, 6 Algeria 7:21.36. C Final (places 13 to 18): 1 Ireland Two (M O’Donovan) 7:17.11, 2 Tunisia One 7:17.40, 3 Switzerland Two 7:19.58.

Women

Double Sculls – C Final (Places 13, 14): 1 France 7:12.84, 2 Ireland (M Dukarska, E Moran) 7:20.78.

#ROWING: Paul O’Donovan finished fourth in the A/B semi-final of the lightweight single sculls at the World Cup in Aiguebelette this morning and will compete in tomorrow’s B Final. The UCD man was fourth at halfway and made a big push in the third quarter, but could not secure a place in the top three.

World Cup Regatta, Aiguebelette, France, Day Two (Selected Results, Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Single Sculls – Semi-Final Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Germany Two (J Schoemann-Finck) 7:00.71, 2 Bulgaria (V Nedelcho) 7:03.69, 3 France (D Piqueras) 7:04.23; 4 Ireland One (P O’Donovan) 7:06.99, 5 Switzerland One 7:14.8, 6 Algeria 7:21.36.

#ROWING: Paul O’Donovan qualified directly for the A/B Semi-Finals of the World Cup Regatta in Aiguebelette in France this morning. The UCD lightweight single sculler was the fastest in his heat, which was run on a time-trial basis. Zak Lee-Green of Britain was second. The fastest two qualified directly.

Mark O’Donovan, rowing in this event after Niall Kenny had to pull out of the originally-entered lightweight pair, was fifth in the in first heat.

The heats were run on a time trial basis to test this out for future events where this format might need to be used.

 On Friday evening, Tom Kelly was fifth in his heat of the Arms and Shoulders men's single sculls.

World Cup Regatta, Aiguebelette, France, Day One (Selected Results, Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Single Sculls – Heats (Time Trials; First Two Directly Through to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage)

Heat One: 1 China (Tiexin Wang) 7:02.36, 2 France (D Piqueras) 7:07.64; 5 Ireland Two (M O’Donovan) 7:20.78

Heat Three: 1 Ireland One (P O’Donovan) 7:11.34, 2 Britain (Z Lee-Green) 7:15.60.

Pararowing – Arms and Shoulders Men’s Single Sculls – Heat Two (First to A Final; rest to Repechage): 5 Ireland (T Kelly)

#ROWING: Paul O’Donovan finished a close-up second to Petr Cabla of the Czech Republic in the C Final of the lightweight men’s single sculls at the European Rowing Championships in Belgrade in Serbia today. Cabla was an impressive winner, outlasting challenges from Croatia’s Luka Radonic and Slovakia’s Marek Reznak and then O’Donovan in the closing stages to win. He places 13th and O’Donovan 14th of the 20 starters.

European Rowing Championships, Day Two (Irish interest; selected results)

Men

Lightweight Single Sculls – C/D Semi-Final Two: (First Three to C Final): Croatia 7:10.20, 2 Ireland (P O’Donovan) 7:11.13, 3 Slovakia 7:11.54; 4 Netherlands 7:12.19. C Final (Places 7 to 11): 1 Czech Republic (P Cabla) 7:08.92, 2 Ireland (O’Donovan) 7:09.59, 3 Croatia 7:12.18, 4 Slovakia 7:20.10. France did not start.

Women

Pair – Repechage Two (First Two to A Final; rest to B Final): 1

Ireland (L Kennedy, L Dilleen) 7:20.36, 2 Germany 7:22.89; 3 Czech Republic 7:24.99, 4 France 7:36.63

Double – Repechage (First Two to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Netherlands (N Beukers, I Janssen) 6:54.59, 2 Russia (E Potapova, M Krasilnikova) 6:57.25; 3 Czech Republic 6:58.72, 4 Italy 7:00.87, 5 Austria 7:14.31, 6 Ireland (M Dukarksa, E Moran) 7:19.82.

Single – A/B Semi-Final Two (Two to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Netherlands (C Achterberg) 7:36.98, 2 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:38.31, 3 Germany (A Thiele) 7:41.36; 4 Ukraine 7:44.95, 5 Sweden 7:45.46, 6 Latvia 7:57.97.

#ROWING: Paul O’Donovan qualified for the C Final (Places 13 to 18) at the European Rowing Championships in Belgrade in Serbia today. The UCD man finished second of the three qualifiers from his C/D semi-final this morning. Croatia and Slovakia both led during the race while O’Donovan held on to second. Croatia’s Luka Radonic came home first, with Marek Reznak of Slovakia third. Fourth-placed Daan Klomp of the Netherlands was the sculler who missed out and will have to go to the D Final.

European Rowing Championships, Day Two (Irish interest; selected results)

Men

Lightweight Single Sculls – C/D Semi-Final Two: (First Three to C Final): Croatia 7:10.20, 2 Ireland (P O’Donovan) 7:11.13, 3 Slovakia 7:11.54; 4 Netherlands 7:12.19.

#ROWING: Paul O’Donovan, who came within one place of gaining automatic qualification for the A/B semi-finals this morning, could only finish fourth in his repechage at the European Rowing Championships in Belgrade in Serbia this afternoon. The two coveted places in the lightweight single sculls semis went to Slovenia and Serbia. The Czech Republic was third and Ireland fourth. O’Donovan’s next challenge is the C/D semi-finals tomorrow.

European Rowing Championships, Belgrade, Serbia – Day One (Irish interest; selected results)

Men

Lightweight Single Sculls – Heat Three (First Two to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Italy (M Miani) 6:56.92, 2 Bulgaria (N Vasilev) 6:59.35; 3 Ireland (P O’Donovan) 7:02.21, 4 France 7:06.95, 5 Turkey 7:16.58. Repechage (First Two to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to C/D Semi-Finals): 1 Slovenia (R Hrvat) 7:06.58, 2 Serbia (M Stanojevic) 7:09.01; 3 Czech Republic 7:11.62, 4 Ireland (O’Donovan) 7:12.26, 5 Netherlands 7:15.5.

Women

Pair – Heat Two (Winner to A Final; rest to Repechage): 1 Romania (C Grigoras, L Oprea) 7:14.51; 2 Ireland (L Kennedy, L Dilleen) 7:18.77, 3 Croatia 7:21.87, 4 Serbia 7:24.46, 5 Germany 7:32.40.

Double Sculls – Heat Two (First Two to A Final; rest to Repechage): 1 Poland (M Fularczyk, N Madaj) 6:46.50, 2 Britain (F Houghton, V Thornley); 3 Netherlands 6:54.59, 4 Czech Republic 7:10.63, 5 Ireland (M Dukarska, E Moran) 7:16.66.

Single Sculls – Heat Three (First Two to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Czech Republic (M Knapkova) 7:29.98, 2 Netherlands (C Acterberg) 7:31.64; 3 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:39.26, 4 Sweden 7:48.13, 5 Latvia 7:51.24.

#ROWING: Paul O’Donovan finished third in his heat of the lightweight single sculls, just one place outside automatic qualification for the A/B semi-finals, at the European Championships in Belgrade this morning. In fast cross-tailwind conditions, Italy’s Marcello Miani set a hot pace and won well. France, Bulgaria and Ireland vied for the valuable second spot. O'Donovan put in a good second 1,000 metres, but Bulgaria’s Nedelcho Vasilev took second. France were fourth. Ireland, France and Turkey go to Repechages later in the day.

European Rowing Championships, Belgrade, Serbia – Day One (Irish interest; selected results)

Men

Lightweight Single Sculls – Heat Three (First Two to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Italy (M Miani) 6:56.92, 2 Bulgaria (N Vasilev) 6:59.35; 3 Ireland (P O’Donovan) 7:02.21, 4 France 7:06.95, 5 Turkey 7:16.58.

#ROWING: Sanita Puspure added a second silver medal to the one she won on Saturday at the Memorial Paolo d’Aloja regatta in Italy today. She finished, as she had on Saturday, behind Donata Vistartaite of Lithuania. Paul O’Donovan was again near the head of the field in the men’s lightweight single sculls, but he had to settle for fourth.

Memorial Paolo d’Aloja, Piediluco, Italy (Irish interest)

Men

Lightweight Single Sculls: 1 Italy (M Miani) 7:01.88, 2 Greece Two (E Konsolas) 7:07.15, 3 India (D Dushyant) 7:09.36, 4 Ireland (O’Donovan) 7:09.63

Women

Pair: 1 Ireland (Kennedy, Dilleen) 7:30.0, 2 Italy (Arcangiolini, Marzari) 7:43.67, 3 Italy Two (Basadonna, Bellio) 7:47.89.

Double Sculls: 1 Italy Two (Schiavone, Palma) 7:20.55, 2 Italy (Patelli, Bertolasi) 7:25.08, 3 Belgium (J Ghuysen, M Lewuillon) 4 Ireland (Moran, Dukarska) 7:30.78.

Single Sculls: 1 Lithuania (Vistartaite) 7:48.66, 2 Ireland (Puspure) 7:54.83, 3 Italy (S Magnaghi) 8:03.06.

#ROWING: All four Ireland crews will compete in Finals on Sunday at the Memorial Paolo d’Aloja regatta in Italy. Sanita Puspure and Paul O’Donovan guaranteed their places by finishing second in their heats. The women’s pair and women’s double sculls go directly through to their finals. 

Memorial Paolo d’Aloja, Piediluco, Italy (Irish interest, Finals)

Men

Lightweight Single Sculls: 1 South Africa (LS Ndlovu) 7:00.21, 2 India (D Dushyant) 7:00.93, 3 Ireland (P O’Donovan) 7:02.33.

Women

Pair: 1 Ireland (L Kennedy, L Dilleen) 7:25.22, 2 Ialy (B Arcangiolini, G Marzari) 7:33.70, 3 Italy Three (I Broggini, V Calabrese) 7:36.35.

Sculling, Double: 1 Italy Two (L Schiavone, G Palma) 7:17.10, 2 Italy One (A Patelli, S Bertolasi) 7:23.75, 3 Ireland (E Moran, M Dukarska) 7:33.44.

Single: 1 Lithuania (D Vistartaite) 7:45.46, 2 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:49.92, 3 Italy (S Magnaghi) 8:00.86.

Saturday Heats

Lightweight Men – 2 P O’Donovan 7:23.19

Women’s Single – 2 S Puspure 7:44.91

#ROWING: Paul O’Donovan and Sanita Puspure headed the rankings on the first day of the Ireland Trial at the National Rowing Centre in Cork today. O’Donovan, who is still just 19 and a lightweight, was the fastest single sculler on the water. In sometimes difficult headwind conditions he hit 85.5 per cent of projected world gold medal winning time for an under-23 lightweight. Puspure was the fastest woman and her per centage as an openweight single sculler was 84.42.

Ireland Trials, National Rowing Centre, Cork (Selected Results (provisional); Ranked by Time and Per Centage of projected World Gold Medal Time)

Men

Pair – Under-23: 1 M Pukelis, K Neville 7:19.33 (79.67), 2 R O’Callaghan, R Bennett 7:20.13 (79.52). Junior: 1 B Keohane, D Keohane 7:24.93 (78.66), 2 E Murray, B Rix 7:39.46 (76.18), 3 K Fallon, J Bennett 7:41.17 (75.89).

Sculling, Single – Senior: 1 J Keohane 7:31.69 (81.91 per cent), 2 D Neale 7:45.56 (79.47). Under-23: 1 A Harrington 7:33.35 (81.61), 2 D Quinlan 7:46.62 (79.29), 3 T Oliver 7:50.01 (78.72).

Lightweight Single – Under-23: 1 P O’Donovan 7:24.47 (85.50), 2 S O’Driscoll 7:33.88 (83.72), 3 B Beck 7:40.24 (82.57).

Junior: 1 D O’Malley 7:39.10 (80.59), 2 C Carmody 7:43.20 (79.88), 3 S Mulvaney 7:49.15 (78.87).

Women

Pair – Junior: 1 N Casey, E McCarthy 8:28.74 (76.27), 2 Clarke, Glover 8:36.22 (75.16), 3 O’Connor, Hickey 8:40.66 (74.52).

Sculling, Double – Senior: E Moran, M Dukarska 7:41.83 (81.05)

Single – Senior: S Puspure 7:56.20 (84.42)

Lightweight Single – Senior: 1 S McCrohan 8:21.77 (83.31), 2 O Hayes 8:30.20 (81.93), 3 C Jennings 8:31.52 (81.72).

Junior: 1 E Barry 8:32.96 (78.37), 2 E Lambe 8:43.60 (76.78), 3 E Hegarty 8:48.04 (76.13).