The Rowing Ireland team for the 2021 Final Olympic Qualification has been confirmed by Rowing Ireland’s High-Performance Director, Antonio Maurogiovanni.
Three Senior Irish crews will be looking to qualify their boats for the Tokyo Olympics in Lucerne this weekend to add to the four Irish boats already qualified from the 2019 World Rowing Championships. The competing boats are the Men’s Single, Lightweight Women’s Double and Women’s Four.
Daire Lynch - Men’s Single
Daire Lynch will be competing in the Men’s Single in Varese. There are twenty-six crews entered to compete in the Men’s Single Scull. There are two qualifying spots available in this category. Daire had a very successful 2020, winning Gold (U23 ERC) and Bronze (ERC) alongside Ronan Byrne. Daire won five Irish championships (four singles, one pair) and previously placed 8th at the Junior World Championship. Daire raced in the Men's Single at the 2021 European Rowing Championships and finish 2nd in the C Final.
Fiona Murtagh, Eimear Lambe, Aifric Keogh and Emily Hegarty - Women’s Four
The crew of Fiona Murtagh, Eimear Lambe, Aifric Keogh and Emily Hegarty will be competing in the Women’s Four. The Women’s Four will be competing against seven other crews. There are two qualifying spots for the Olympics available in this category. Fiona, Eimear, Emily and Aifric won Silver at the 2021 European Rowing Championships last month in Varese. Last year Fiona, Eimear and Aifric won Bronze in the Women’s Four alongside Aileen Crowley at the 2020 European Championships. Fiona recently won Bronze at the 2020 European Rowing Championships in Poznan and has won the Head of Charles two years in a row. Eimear has been competing internationally since 2015 and won Silver at the 2019 U23 World Rowing Championships. Aifric has been a member of the high-performance team for several years, has won at the Irish Championships and has set new World Records on the ergometer. Emily has been competing internationally for several years after she started rowing in 2009. Emily previously won the Silver Medal at the 2019 World U23 Championships in Sarasota and a bronze medal in the Women’s Pair at the U23 2020 European Rowing Championships alongside fellow UCC athlete Tara Hanlon.
Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey -Lightweight Women’s Double
Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey will be racing in the Lightweight Women’s Double in Lucerne. There are sixteen crews entered in the Lightweight Women’s Double category. There is three qualifying spots available for the Olympics. They finished 5th in the A Final at the 2021 European Rowing Championships. Last year they won the Silver Medal in the same category at the European U23 Rowing Championships. Margaret and Aoife have competed together for several years and won Silver in this event at the Junior European Championships in 2017. They finished second in the LW2x B Final at the 2020 European Rowing Championships in Poznan.
Racing will start on Saturday with the Heats kicking off around 10 am. The Quarter and Semi-Finals will be on Sunday and the Finals on Monday morning. A full breakdown of times will be available after the draw on Friday afternoon.
Irish Crews
M1x Top Two Finish to Qualify
- Daire Lynch (Clonmel)
W4- Top Two Finish to Qualify
- Fiona Murtagh (NUIG)
- Eimear Lambe (OCBC)
- Aifric Keogh (UCC)
- Emily Hegarty (UCC)
LW2x Top Three Finish to Qualify
- Margaret Cremen (UCC)
- Aoife Casey (UCC)
Staff Team
- Antonio Maurogiovanni – High-Performance Director
- Fran Keane – Rowing Ireland Coach (not travelling)
- Dominic Casey – Rowing Ireland Coach
- Giuseppe De Vita – Rowing Ireland Coach
- Feargal O’Callaghan – Team Manager
