# ROWING: The junior men’s pair of Chris Black and Joel Cassells were again the stars of the show for Ireland as they won the B Final at the World Championships in Plovdiv in Bulgaria this morning with the best time they have ever clocked in competition, six minutes 47.92 seconds. In a fiercely-competitive grade this crew might well have been contending for medals in the A Final, but came up against three of the best crews in the semi-final on Saturday in Romania, Germany and Greece and finished fourth. Black and Cassells then targeted a win in this morning’s race which would give them seventh overall and they brought it home in remarkable fashion. They were credited with one minute 36.29 for the first 500 metres, and the race plan set by coach Seamus Reynolds went so well that as Croatia, Poland and France fought it out behind them, the Irish were never seriously challenged, and won by almost two seconds.
Earlier, Claire Lambe finished fifth in her B Final of the lightweight single sculls, 11th overall. The Dubliner was fourth for a great deal of a fine race, which was won by Italy’s Elisabetta Sancassani ahead of China’s Miao Wang second, with outgoing World Champion Fabiana Beltrame of Brazil only capable of taking third. Early in the final quarter Lambe made ground of Beltrame and contended for third, but the Irish woman was passed late on by Alice McNamara of Australia, who took the fourth spot. Switzerland’s Pamela Weisshaupt, the World Champion in 2008 and 2009, and twice a World Cup winner this year, finished sixth.
World Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Day Five (Irish interest)
Men
Junior Pair B Final (Places 7 to 12): 1 Ireland (C Black, J Cassells) 6:47.92, 2 Croatia 6:49.81, 3 Poland 6:50.99, 4 France 6:54.82, 5 Belgium 6:56.86, 6 United States 6:57.78.
Women
Lightweight Single Scull – B Final (Places 7 to 12): 1 Italy (E Sancassani) 7:45.78, 2 China (M Wang) 7:47.60, 3 Brazil (F Beltrame) 7:47.87, 4 Australia (A McNamara) 7:49.29, 5 Ireland (C Lambe) 7:56.68, 6 Switzerland (P Weisshaupt) 8:01.59.
