All eyes were on the reigning World Champion Paul O’Donovan at the European Rowing Championships yesterday.
The Olympic Gold and Silver Medallist was racing for the first time in the heavyweight single scull category while his lightweight doubles partner, Fintan McCarthy, recovers from illness.
In typical O’Donovan fashion, he stayed comfortably within the pack for the first half of the race and gradually built up speed coming towards the 2000m mark.
Crossing the line in 3rd place, he will race in the repechage today 10 10:40 this morning, where a place for two crews in the A/B semi-final is up for grabs.
Margaret Cremen of UCC RC finished second in the Lightweight Women’s Single preliminary race. This is Margaret’s first appearance in the single scull at a World Rowing event.
She is usually spotted racing the Lightweight Women’s Double with partner Aoife Casey, but due to illness, the pair could not race together this weekend.
Racing for lanes, Cremen had a strong start, leading the pack for the first 1000m. However, a push from the Individual Neutral Athletes sculler through the middle saw Margaret finishing in second place. As a preliminary race, there are various strategies from the individual teams, so Sunday’s final is expected to be interesting.
Jake McCarthy stole the show yesterday morning, clinching first place in his heat of the Lightweight Men’s Single. The Skibbereen native left it to the final sprint to not only move into the top two direct qualifying spots but also into the leading position. Sunday’s final is one to tune into.
The Women’s Double of Alison Bergin of Fermoy RC and Zoe Hyde of Tralee RC were the first to hit the water yesterday morning in the first of the heats. The pair made a strong push through the 1000m, passing the Swiss pair to claim a second-place finish in their heat. They move onto the repechage tomorrow, where the top four crews will progress to the A final.
On the World Rowing website, there will be a live race tracker and live audio commentary for every race, and live video streaming on Saturday, from noon onwards, and on Sunday from 9:00 for all A-Finals.
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