Puspure and Co bid for Olympic spots in Lucerne

ROWING:IT IS perhaps the most tense and least fun rowing event of each Olympic cycle – but the upside is huge. Ireland's men's lightweight double scull and single sculler Sanita Puspure go into the Olympic Qualification Regatta, which starts on Sunday in Lucerne, knowing they can grab the glory and plan their season around London 2012, or refocus for the season and a new Olympic cycle.

The double of Mark O’Donovan and Niall Kenny, who are both 23, know they are long shots after finishing 17th at the first World Cup in Belgrade two weeks ago, but Puspure (30) has a realistic chance of booking her place in London by finishing in the top three in an entry of 17.

The Latvian-born athlete finished fifth in Belgrade, and notched up placings ahead of some of her rivals of the next few days: she was faster than Norway’s Tale Gjoertz of Norway in the heats and she won a battle with Estonia’s ambitious young sculler Kaisa Pajusalu in the semi-finals.

The entry of ergometer queen Sophie Balmary of France, competing in the single for the first time since she finished 12th in Beijing may provide the talking point, but the hottest prospect in the entry of 17 should be Serbia’s Iva Obradovic, who won her heat and semi-final in Belgrade, though she dropped out for the final.

Three of the big powers of rowing, Britain, Australia and the United States, are depending on this regatta to gain an Olympic place in this prestigious event.

Genevra Stone of the US finished 11th at last year’s World Championships, just two places off automatic qualification, while Kim Crow of Australia took silver at that event – albeit in the women’s double scull, and her record lies in crew boats. Britain’s Rachel Gamble-Flint looks less of a threat as she is an under-23 athlete who finished 10th in Belgrade.

Spain’s Nuria Dominguez Asensio and Elisabetta Sancassani of Italy competed in both Athens and Beijing, and will hope this event will take them to London.

To reach their final would be quite an achievement for O’Donovan and Kenny – and just the top two crews in the final go to London. At the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004, Sam Lynch and Gearóid Towey discovered the lightweight double scull is one of the toughest of Olympic events (they finished 10th).

Zsolt Hirling and Tamas Varga of Hungary, who finished fifth in Athens and 14th in Beijing are competing in Lucerne, and Australia and the United States will also fancy their chances.

McElroy’s second major focus this year is on the World under-23 Championships and there were some good results for prospective crews last weekend at the Brandenburg Regatta. Claire Lambe won on both days in the lightweight single scull, while Laura D’Urso and Holly Nixon took first and third places in the double scull.

At junior level, the men’s pair of Joel Cassells and Chris Black look set for the World Championships in August, with Paul O’Donovan in a single scull and perhaps a women’s quadruple also going.

Back home, Lee Regatta is set for tomorrow with a programme of mainly underage events, while Belfast Sprint Regatta has been cancelled.