Irish pair to push Germans hard for gold

ROWING WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS:LAURA D'URSO and Lisa Dilleen took their opportunity to grab a place in today's A Final of the World Junior Championships yesterday – and saw first hand how immensely difficult it will be if they are to win gold.

Germany already looked the form crew after Wednesday’s heats, but yesterday, in consigning the Irish to a distant second in their semi-final, they shone very brightly. Julia Lier and Marie-Catherine Arnold had a three-second lead over D’Urso by 500 metres, and extended it to a staggering 9.69 seconds by the end, with the Ireland double scull performing well to see off Italy, who finished well behind them in third.

However, if others might have been lost in appreciation of the class of the Germans, the two mature 18-year-olds from Ireland were not joining the throng, according to coach Gearóid Mitchell. He said they were calm and had done what they had to do.

“Our aim today was to go through. There were no medals on offer.”

D’Urso and Dilleen had not over-extended themselves. “I was more tired cycling along beside them than they were coming off the water. I think we are exactly where we wanted to be,” Mitchell added.

Lier and Arnold’s time was notably quicker than that of the Czech Republic, who won the first semi-final after a battle with China in seven minutes 10.9 seconds. Germany, way out in front for much of their semi, were more than seven seconds inside this winning mark, on 7:03.18.

Ireland team manager Derek Holland said it had been a “very confident” row by Dilleen and D’Urso, who kept their heads well in winning their battle with the Italians. “The girls believe they have a lot more to come,” he added.

Holland conceded, however, the likely scenario today is Ireland, the Czech Republic and China will be fighting for silver and bronze.

Ireland line up in lane five for today’s final (12.45 Irish time), alongside the Germans in lane four and Italy in lane six.

Holland, who was recently appointed as lead coach for juniors in Ireland, says he is intent on bringing a crew or crews to this event each year. “We haven’t been doing anything with our juniors (at top international level) for a while. It’s time we stepped it up,” he said.

WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS,Brive-la-Gaillarde, France (Irish interest) Women's Double Sculls– Semi-Finals (First Three to A Final). Semi-Final One:1 Czech Republic 7:10.90, 2 China 7:11.03, 3 Romania 7:17.55; 4 Bulgaria 7:22.07, 5 Hungary 7:29.26, 6 Latvia 7:30.77. Semi-Final Two:1 Germany (J Lier, M-C Arnold) 7:03.18, 2 Ireland (L D'Urso, L Dilleen) 7:12.87, 3 Italy (E Coletti, E Locci) 7:18.73; 4 Greece 7:25.72, 5 France 7:26.33, 6 Ukraine 7:30.29.

Today:13.45 – Junior Women's Double Scull – A Final (lane order): Romania, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Ireland, Italy.