#ROWING: Sanita Puspure marched into the A/B Semi-Finals at the World Cup Rowing regatta at Aiguebelette in France today. First or second in her heat, which was run as a time trial, was enough to secure qualification for the Ireland sculler. She matched the pace of Duan Jingli of China for much of the 2,000 metres, but at the end the Chinese won, with Puspure taking a clear second.
Mirka Knapkova of the Czech Republic and Emma Twigg of New Zealand won the other heats – with Twigg the fastest winner by over four seconds.
There was only ever going to be one man to win John Keohane’s heat of the men’s single scull: Angel Fournier Rodriguez of Cuba dominated the time trial and took the only direct qualification place. Keohane finished fifth of the six starters.
The Ireland women’s double of Monika Dukarska and Claire Lambe finished fifth of five in their heat.
World Cup Regatta, Aiguebelette, France, Day One (Selected Results, Irish interest)
Men
Single Sculls – Heat One (Time Trial; First Directly to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage); 1 Cuba (A Fournier Rodriguez) 6:48.06; 2 Canada 6:55.45, 3 Finland 6:59.39, 4 United States 7:06.59, 5 Ireland (J Keohane) 7:12.69, 6 Hungary 7:17.37.
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.
Women
Pair – Heat Two (Time Trial; First Three to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Canada (N Mastracci, S Grainger) 7:13.29, 2 United States Two (G Luczak, C Lind) 7:13.87, 3 Ireland (L Kennedy, L Dilleen) 7:18.15; 4 Germany Two 7:32.77, 5 China Two 7:37.06.
Double Sculls – Heat Three (Time Trial; First Three Directly to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Belarus (E Karsten, Y Bichyk) 6:51.94, 2 Britain (F Houghton, V Thornley) 6:54.71, 3 China (Yuwei Wang, Weiwei Zhu) 6:57.09; 4 France 7:07.40, 5 Ireland (M Dukarska, E Moran) 7:12.42.
Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat Two (Time Trial; First Two Directly to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Britain One (I Walsh, K Copeland) 7:02.44, 2 United States (D Karz, M Sechser) 7:07.21; 3 Ireland (C Lambe, D Walsh) 5:21.89, 4 Mexico Two 7:20.55, 5 Belarus 7:20.95.
Single Sculls – Heat Three (Time Trial; First Two directly to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 China (Jingli Duan) 7:30.54, 2 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:34.63; 3 Switzerland 7:35.99, 4 France 7:37.79, 5 Zimbabwe 7:41.57, 6 Croatia 7:42.46.
Pararowing – Arms and Shoulders Men’s Single Sculls – Heat Two (First to A Final; rest to Repechage): 5 Ireland (T Kelly)
