Ireland’s Siobhan McCrohan (23) and Claire Lambe (20) will compete in the A Final of the European Championships in Montemor-o-Velho in Portugal tomorrow. To qualify the Irish lightweight double scull needed to finish in the top two of their repechage this morning, and the Tribesmen/UCD combination duly obliged. They finished second to Poland, the silver medallists from last year’s World Championships, who led all the way down the course. McCrohan and Lambe stayed in touch all through and saw off a late challenge by Sweden.
The men’s lightweight double of Mark O’Donovan and Niall Kenny finished fifth in their A/B Semi-Final. The race had a surprising conclusion, as Slovenia ousted Greece to join Italy and France in the A Final, but the Ireland crew were not contenders and will compete in tomorrow’s B Final.
European Championships, Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal, (Irish interest)
Men, Lightweight Double Sculls – A/B Semi-Final (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Italy 6:33.85, 2 France 6:34.26, 3 Slovenia 6:35.76; 4 Greece 6:40.49, 5 Ireland (M O’Donovan, N Kenny) 6:45.20, 6 Belgium 6:48.92.
Women, Lightweight Double Sculls – Repechage Two (First Two to A Final): 1 Poland (M Kemnitz, A Renc) 7:20.87, 2 Ireland (S McCrohan, S Lambe) 7:24.46; 3 Sweden 7:26.71, 4 Netherlands 7:33.01, 5 Portugal 7:36.85
