The West Cork duo have continued their success streak, adding more silverware to their collection.

O’Donovan and McCarthy made their usual solid start placing them in the middle of the field. Their second half of the race saw them consistently find the speed to pull through every crew ahead.

The Swiss double went out hard, leading to the 1 kilometre and holding onto the Irish coming into the last quarter. In the end, they just couldn’t keep up with the Cork duo, dropping back into third position crossing the line.

Aoife Casey (UCC RC) in the A Final of the LW1x just missed out on the medals by a mere 1.4 seconds.

The PR2 Mix2x of Katie O’Brien (Galway RC) and Steven McGowan (Galway RC) put in a strong showing in their A Final, finishing in fourth position.

In an extremely tight race, the Lightweight Women’s Double of Margaret Cremen and Lydia Heaphy finished just outside of the medals in fourth position.

The post O’Donovan & McCarthy win European Championships gold appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

Returning to the international rowing scene, the Corkman also set a new World Cup record.

The Skibbereen rower, currently studying and racing for University College Cork, stormed his heat, winning it by 7 seconds. With this performance, he was going straight into the A/B Semi with the fastest time. Lukasz Sawicki from Poland and Finn Wolter from Germany were both unable to race the semi due to illness, which reduced the field to four boats.

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The W2- of Emily Hegarty and Fiona Murtagh began the medal streak with a bronze medal in their final. Coming up to the halfway mark the crew were bow ball to bow ball with the crew from Czech Republic. With each stroke, the crew in that third place position swapped back and forth, but it was the rowers from NUIG and UCC that held out and secured the medals.

Half an hour later Sanita Puspure and Zoe Hyde had their time on the podium. In the medal positions from the start, the crew went out as they intended to finish. Coming into the last few hundred metres the Chinese crew made a big effort to try to come through but the Irish crew made it over the line to secure silver medals.

The LW2x of Margaret Cremen from UCC and Lydia Heaphy from Skibbereen RC took off the starting blocks at a rate of 55 strokes per minute, leaving the rest of the field behind in those first few strokes. As the race developed, USA and Australia began to pull away but there was nothing separating the rest of the crews. It came down to a photo finish between the crew from Ireland and the crew from China, but it was the Irish that made it across first and won the bronze medals. In the end, there was only 0.3 seconds separating the crews from second place to fourth place.

The W4- of Eimear Lambe (Old Collegians BC), Tara Hanlon (UCC), Aifric Keogh (DULBC), and Natalie Long (Killorglin RC) came in winning the bronze medal and rounding up the Irish medal tally to six. An impressive final burst in the last 500m, moved the Irish crew from fifth place up to the bronze medal position.

On Saturday, Katie O’Brien took gold in the PR2 W1x in a new world record time while Fintan McCarthy claimed a silver medal in the LM1x.

Irish Results

PR2 W1x – Katie O’Brien – Gold Medal (World Record)

LM1x – Fintan McCarthy – Silver Medal

LM1x – Gary O’Donovan – 5th B Final

PR2 Mix2x – Katie O’Brien, Steven McGowan – 4th Place

W2- Fiona Murtagh, Emily Hegarty – Bronze Medal

W2x – Zoe Hyde, Sanita Puspure – Silver Medal

LW2x – Margaret Cremen, Lydia Heaphy – Bronze Medal

W4- Eimear Lambe, Tara Hanlon, Aifric Keogh, Natalie Long – Bronze Medal

The post Medals galore for Irish rowers in Poznan appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

The famous Irish duo came into the finals as favourites after breaking the world record in the semi-final. The pressure did not effect them in the slightest as they lined up in Lane 3 at the Sea Forest Waterway.

Was extremely privileged to be in London in 2012 when Michael McKillop won gold. Hearing Amhran na bhFiann being played and the Irish flag raised in the Olympic Stadium is something I'll never forget.
Well done Paul & Fintan #Ireland #Rowing pic.twitter.com/zYswC4sHFE

— Deniese O'Flaherty (@deniese_o) July 29, 2021

They faced the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Belgium and Uruguay in this big race.

As the race started, Germany, known for their strong opening and Italy powered ahead. After 500m, Ireland were sitting in third almost a second and a half behind the leaders.

Before any Irish fans could start worrying, the Irish turned on their class, consistently speeding up and were only 0.66 seconds behind Germany at the halfway mark.

Germany attempted to hold their lead as the two boats jostled for top spot over a couple of hundred metres. Just before the 1500m, the Irish boys finally took the lead and they would not give it up.

Their stroke rate and strength kept increasing as they pushed through the last part of the race.

History was of officially made as O’Donovan and McCarthy crossed the finish line in a time of 6:06.43. They were followed a boat length behind by Germany and then Italy.

They took their victory with class, McCarthy clearly ecstatic and O’Donovan letting out a small smile. This seemed to be just another day at the office for the worlds best rowing partnership.

LEGENDS Absolutely nerve wracking!!! Amazing stuff @TeamIreland @skibbrowing @RowingIreland – Congratulations Paul & Fintan just breathtaking #Olympics #westcorksportsstar pic.twitter.com/NeP9HNRFaj

— Celtic Ross Hotel (@CelticRossHotel) July 29, 2021

As they were presented their flowers and medals they were clearly overjoyed and Amhran na Bhfiann was heard for the first time in Tokyo 2020.

A rare Olympic gold for Team Ireland

This is now Ireland’s tenth ever gold medal at the Olympic Games and their first in rowing. This builds on Team Ireland’s medal tally after the women’s four rowing team won a bronze medal yesterday.

Commentator George Hamilton also had the pleasure of announcing his first Irish gold medal after working at 11 Olympic Games.

O’Donovan and McCarthy have a very impressive trophy cabinet with Paul already having an Olympic silver medal with his brother from five years ago but this will now be their main prize.

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Our Olympic Medalists!

First female athletes to win an Olympic Medal in rowing for Ireland

History has been made by this incredible crew #wearerowingireland pic.twitter.com/QIsVMX09jE

— Rowing Ireland (@RowingIreland) July 28, 2021

Men’s Double Sculls Final B – Ronan Byrne, Philip Doyle

In Ireland’s earliest race of the day, Byrne and Doyle faced off against Russia, New Zealand, Romania, Germany and Lithuania in the B Final.

There were no medals up for grabs, instead they were competing for 7th to 12th place at this years Olympics.

This was a very intense race with the top four within three seconds with each other. Team Ireland finished in fourth ahead of Germany and Lithuania.

Russia came first in the race, followed by New Zealand and Romania. Byrne and Doyle completed the two kilometre race in 6:16.89, getting their best time of Tokyo 2020.

This has been a mixed Olympics for the pair, needing the repechage to reach the semi-finals but they should be happy to finish top ten at the competition.

Women’s Four Final A – Aifric Keogh, Eimear Lambe, Fiona Murtagh, Emily Hegarty

The women’s four team have brought home Ireland’s first medal of Tokyo 2020 by finishing an impressive third in this morning’s final. They finished the race in a time of 6:20.46, a full second ahead of fourth place.

Australia came first, breaking the Olympic record and the Netherlands taking the silver medal.

They beat out teams like Great Britain, China and Poland to win the medals. To read more about this monumental race, read the below article.

https://3.249.64.60/other_sports/olympic-games/olympic-rowing-team-ireland-womens-fours-win-bronze-tokyo-2020/

Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls semi-final – Paul O’Donovan, Fintan McCarthy

O’Donovan and McCarthy again showed their class dominating their field and now breaking the world record.

The record was previously held by South Africa but the Irish pair beat it by three one-hundredths of a second in a time of 6:05.33.

Italy and Belgium finished the two kilometres in second and third, they will proceed to the A final. Ukraine, Spain and India will go into the B final.

Ireland will continue into the final as favourites for gold tonight. They will also face off against the Czech Republic, Germany and Uruguay in the big race.

Tune into RTE 2 at 01:50 to see Ireland try bring home another medal.

#Rowing

The Lightweight Men’s Double of Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan win their semi-final and move into the A Final in a WORLD BEST TIME of 6:05.33 pic.twitter.com/evEAtsEurt

— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) July 28, 2021

Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls semi-final – Aoife Casey, Margaret Cremen

The women’s double team has finished in fifth place and will go into the B final very early tomorrow morning.

Casey and Cremen lost out to world-class Great Britain, France and Netherlands teams. Instead, Ireland, Switzerland and Belarus will go into the B final to fight for seventh place at the Olympics.

The Irish pair finished their race in 6:49.24, narrowly behind the Swiss. They will be one of the favourites now going into B final.

They will also compete against Canada, hosts Japan and Russia tonight at 01:00.

Women’s Pair semi-final – Aileen Crowley, Monika Dukarska

The Irish pair finished came home in fifth place in the semi-final and will contest the B final later tonight. The finished the two kilometres in 7:06.07.

Greece, Great Britain and Canada completed the race first and will be in the women’s pair final. Australia missed out by four tenths of a second, they will join Ireland and Denamark in the B final.

That race will take place at 00:40 and will be shown on RTE 2 and RTE Player.

The post Olympic Rowing: Roundup of Ireland’s action appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

Sanita Pušpure finished first in the Women’s Single Sculls Quarter-Final. She faced competition from Hong Kong, Serbia, USA, China and Paraguay. Sanita won the Heat comfortably with a time of 07:58.30 finishing ahead of Kara Kohler (USA) and Yan Jiang (China). She will now race in the A/B Semi-Final on Wednesday morning.

The Women’s Pair of Monika Dukarska and Aileen Crowley and the Lightweight Women’s Double of Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey also progressed to the semi-finals from their repechages.

They competed against USA, China and Greece. The Irish women finished with a time of 07:31.99. They will race in the A/B Semi-Final in the coming week.

Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey finished third in the Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls Repechage. The Irish pair finished with a time of 07:23.46. They have now qualified for the A/B Semi-Final during the week.

Ronan Byrne and Philip Doyle finished sixth in the Men’s Double Sculls A/B Semi-Final. They raced against against Poland, New Zealand, Britain, France, and Germany. The Irishmen finished with a time of 06.49.06. They will now race in the B Final on Wednesday morning.

The post World Champion Sanita Pušpure through to semi-final appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

M2 Repechage – Men’s pair – Ronan Byrne and Philip Doyle

This pair improved greatly on their disappointing result in the heats yesterday. They faced Germany, Lithuania and Czech Republic with the top three making the semi-final.

The race was close between the four throughout with the Irish pair jostling with the Czech Republic for third place.

The Irishmen finished the 2000m in little under 6:30 as they qualify for the next round with good Germany and Lithuania teams.

W2 heat – Women’s pair – Monika Dubarska and Aileen Crowley

At 10:40 in the Sea Forrest Waterway, Dubarska and Crowley lined up against New Zealand, Spain and Denmark. Again, the top three would qualify directly for the semi-final.

Ireland started slow as a dominant New Zealand raced out in front. They sat in third place for most of the race only for a last spurt by Spain after 1500m to beat them.

The Irish women were only beaten out by a single second but now are resigned to the repechage for their last chance at qualifying.

LW2x heat – Lightweight women’s pair skull – Aoife Casey and Margaret Cremen

The young pair of Casey and Cremen had a daunting prospect of facing World Champions Italy and a good France team in their first heat. They also lined up alongside the USA and Indonesia in this race with only two teams able to qualify directly.

They started dtrong and fast but dropped back to fifth after 500m. The Irish women struggled to compete with their world class opponents and finished the race just over ten seconds behind France.

Italy also qualified as they rest of the heat is set to compete at the repechage for their last chance in Tokyo.

LM2x heat – Lightweight men’s pair skull – Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’ Donovan

This worldclass pair came into the competition as favourites for gold having won this years European Championships and the 2019 World Championships.

At midday in Tokyo the race began with them against Ukraine, India, Uruguay, Poland and the Czech Republic. They began strong allowing an excited Uruguayan pair tire themselves out.

They never looked like losing first place finishing the 2000m in 6:23.74. The Czech Republic beat out Poland four seconds later, sending them to the repechage.

#rowing

Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy cruise into the semi finals winning their heat by 5 seconds in the Men’s Lightweight Doubles.

What a display – making it look like a paddle #TeamIreland #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/wq5t1lM3L3

— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) July 24, 2021

W4 – Women’s four – Aifric Keogh, Eimear Lambe, Emily Hegarty, Fiona Murtagh

This team of four came in as a surprise package having qualified for the Olympics late but they showed that they mean business.

Rowing in lane two, they faced Australia, Romania, Denmark and the USA with the top two qualifying directly.

They powered themselves into second place from the beginning, trying to keep up with the highly-rated Australians.

They battled right until the end, pulling away from Romania in third. The race went down to the wire but Ireland lost out by half a second. Many of the Irish rowers were there to cheer them over the line, proud of the great display they had showed.

#rowing

Stunning race from the Women’s Four of Fiona Murtagh, Eimear Lambe, Emily Hegarty and Aifric Keogh to finish second in their heat, just 0.2 sec off Australia, moving straight to the A Final!#TeamIreland #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/0gUPMLzega

— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) July 24, 2021

The post Olympic Rowing: McCarthy and O’Donovan ease their way to semi-final appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

W1x heat – Women’s single skull – Sanita Puspure

The 39-year-old Puspore lined up against Uganda, Greece, Trinidad and Tobago, Singapore and Mexico in the heat 2.

The first three rowers home would qualify for the quarterfinals on Monday.

Puspure is one of the more accomplished athletes at these Games, having competed at London 2012 and Rio 2016, carving a path for Ireland in international rowing.

The race set off at 10:40 in Tokyo, Puspore starting slow and composed but got herself into first place before the first 500 metres.

The Latvian born Irish rower held her lead for the remaining 1500 metres extending it to give herself comfortable qualification for the next round.

Finishing the race eight seconds ahead of Mexico and Greece who also qualified, she has sent a message to the other high performers in Team GB, Russia and the USA that she is a main contender in this event.

#rowing

Well that was, eh, dominant. Sanita Puspure qualified safely to the quarter finals in the opening #TeamIreland event in #Tokyo2020

Her time 7:46.08 was 8 seconds clear of Mexico with Greece taking the final spot pic.twitter.com/htoDbKCQOm

— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) July 23, 2021

M2x heat – Men’s double skull – Ronan Byrne and Philip Doyle

Byrne and Doyle would face Switzerland, New Zealand and Poland in their first heat of Tokyo 2020. Top three in this race would qualify for the semi-finals on Monday.

The two men came into this competition aiming for the finals and even medal places after finishing second at the 2021 Lucerne World Rowing Cup.

The pair has been competing together for some years even though they hail from opposing ends of the country; Byrne is from Cork while Doyle lives in Belfast.

Their race set off at 11:40 in Tokyo’s warm morning, the contest began close and fast. Poland started in first and held the lead throughout.

The other three nations battled it out and disappointingly the Irish men finished last with Switzerland in second and New Zealand in third.

Byrne and Doyle will now battle it out in the repechage to see if they can make the semi-finals.

#rowing

Next up is the Men’s Double of Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne competing at 02:40 Irish time. Top three advance to the semi finals:

Ireland
Switzerland
New Zealand
Poland

Let’s go #TeamIreland #Tokyo2020 pic.twitter.com/VkuL1zZSKG

— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) July 23, 2021

Tomorrow’s Races – Saturday 24th (Irish time)

02:10 – W2 – Women’s pair – Monika Dubarska, Aileen Crowley

02:50 – LW2x – Lightweight women’s double skull – Aoife Casey, Margaret Cremen

03:30 – LM2x – Lightweight men’s double skull – Fintan McCarthy, Paul O’Donovan

04:00 – W4 – Women’s four – Aifric Keogh, Eimear Lambe, Emily Hegarty, Fiona Murtagh

https://3.249.64.60/other_sports/olympic-games/olympics-schedule-fri-sat-23rd-24th-july-irish-athletes-timetable/

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Puspure, who retained her European Championship, won the race ahead of Magdalena Lobnig and Anneta Kyridou.

The Irish rower was competed against crews from Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece and Switzerland.

She finished with a time of 7:36.040, making her a Double World and European Champion in the Women’s Single Scull.

More Irish medal winners in Poznan

Fintan McCarthy (LM1x), Ronan Byrne and Daire Lynch (MX2), Fiona Murtagh, Eimear Lambe, Aileen Crowley and Aifric Keogh (W4-) all won bronze Medals in their A Finals.

Fintan McCarthy won bronze in the Lightweight Men’s Single A Final. He competed against crews from Norway, Italy, Greece, Hungary and Belgium.

Ronan Byrne and Daire Lynch won bronze in the A Final in the Men’s Double Sculls. The Irish crew competed against crews from Lithuania, Romania, Netherlands, Switzerland and Poland. Byrne and Lynch finished third with a time of 06:41.210.

Aifric Keogh, Eimear Lambe, Aileen Crowley and Fiona Murtagh won bronze in the Women’s Four A Final. The Women’s Four competed alongside boats from Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania and Russia.

The Irish Women’s Four finished third just behind the Italian crew with a time of 06:41.210 and just narrowly missed out on the silver to the Swiss crew.

The post Sanita Puspure wins gold in European Women’s Single Sculls Final appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

Lydia Heaphy and Cliodhna Nolan secured a Gold Medal in the A Final of the BLW2- as they held off competition from Germany and Italy to secure gold.

The BM2x Crew of Ronan Byrne and Daire Lynch won their A Final, beating the Belarus boat for gold, by 3.93 seconds.

The BLW2x– crew of Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey took silver in the A Final, remaining ahead of Germany (bronze) from the beginning, finishing with a time difference of 6.78 seconds.

The BM4+ crew of Alex Byrne, Ross Corrigan, Jack Dorney, John Kearney and Leah O’Regan were 3rd in the A Final, taking home the bronze medal. There was only .64 of a second between second and third.

The BW2– crew of Tara Hanlon and Emily Hegarty also finished 3rd in their A Final, beating out Czech Republic (4th) by 3.35 seconds. Ireland finished behind the Romanian and Greek crews in gold and silver positions respectively.

Rowing Ireland’s High-Performance Director, Antonio Maurogiovanni said of the weekend’s successes:

“We are delighted with the results from our crews at the 2020 European Rowing U23 Championships. Winning two Gold, one Silver and two Bronze medals is an excellent result for Irish Rowing this weekend. We entered eight crews, and all of our athletes represented Ireland proudly throughout the weekend. We had seven crews progress to the A Final in their categories, and this is a testament to the effort that was put in during training in the National Rowing Centre by the athletes over the last few weeks.”

Other Irish results:

BW1X- Claire Feerick: fourth in the A Final with a time of 08:00.86

BLM4X- Hugh Sutton, Hugh Moore, Eoin Gaffney, and Will Ronayne: fifth in the A Final with a time of 06:13.31

BLM1x- Samuel O’Neill: second in the C Final with a time of 07:27.25

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