#ROWING: Ireland’s Gary O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll produced a dramatic sprint finish but just missed out on direct qualification for the A/B Semi-Finals at the World Under-23 Rowing Championships in Varese in Italy this morning. The France lightweight double of Pierre Houin and Eloi Debourdeau powered away from the rest early on and won well, while Italy and Ireland contended for the other qualification spot. Italy seemed to have moved clear but O’Donovan and O’Driscoll sprinted to the line and were just .48 of a second behind Italy at the line.
World Under-23 Rowing Championships, Varese, Italy, Day Two (Irish interest; selected results)
Men
Lightweight Double Sculls – Heat Three (First Two Directly to A/B Semi-Finals; Rest to Repechage): 1 France (P Houin, D Debourdeau) 6:34.72, 2 Italy (F Gherzi, N Forcellini) 6:37.86;
3 Ireland (S O’Driscoll, G O’Donovan) 6:38.34, 4 Serbia 6:54.08, 5 Poland 7:04.23,
Women
Lightweight Single Sculls – Heat Three (First Two Directly to A/B Semi-Finals; Rest to Repechage): 1 Cyprus 8:04.62, 2 France 8:06.67; 3 Britain 8:13.89, 4 Ireland (D Walsh) 8:22.48, 5 Russia 8:26.00.