#rowerofthemonth: Paul O'Donovan, who was the Afloat Rower of the Month for June, has won the award again for July. The 19-year-old Skibbereen man, a UCD Scholarship Student, continued on his remarkable run when he took the bronze medal in the lightweight single sculls at the World Under-23 Championships at Linz-Ottensheim in Austria.
O'Donovan won his heat and his quarter-final and finished second to Andrew Campbell Jr of the United States in the semi-final. The American was dominant in the final, with Franciscus Goutier of the Netherlands taking silver ahead of O'Donovan, who outpaced Adam Ling of New Zealand to win his medal.
Ireland crews have a fine record at the World Under-23 Championships, stretching back to the days when it was the Match des Seniors and then the Nations Cup. The 13 medals came in this fashion:
1989: Niall O'Toole, gold
1990: Niall O'Toole, gold; Jeanette Towey, silver
1993: Mary Hussey, silver
1996: Gearóid Towey, gold; Debbie Stack, Vanessa Lawrenson silver
1997: Debbie Stack, Vanessa Lawrenson, bronze
2000: Eugene Coakley, Richard Archibald, Paul Griffin, Brian Young, silver
2001: Eugene Coakley, Timmy Harnedy, Paul Griffin, Neil Casey, silver; Padraig Hussey, silver
2003: Kenny McCarthy, Paul Giblin, Marc Stephens, Alan Martin, bronze
2010: Niall Kenny, Mark O'Donovan, Justin Ryan, Michael Maher, silver
2013: Paul O'Donovan, bronze
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 in the rowing section of afloat.ie and the overall national award will be presented to the person or crew who, in the judges' opinion, achieved the most notable results in, or made the most significant contribution to rowing during 2013. Keep a monthly eye on progress and watch our 2013 champions list grow.
