Women's doubles on Olympic hunt

ROWING: THE IRELAND team goes into World Championships, which begin on Sunday in Bled in Slovenia, with the focus on qualifying two boats for next year's Olympic Games. Both are women's doubles and both need to finish in the top eight.

Last year the lightweight double scull of Siobhán McCrohan and Claire Lambe finished sixth at the World Cup regatta at this venue and ended the season on a high with a fourth-place finish at the European Championships.

Earlier this season McCrohan had some problems making weight, but she took a bronze medal in the lightweight single scull in the final World Cup in Lucerne and was chosen for the Ireland lightweight double without a trial.

Since this is the one Olympic boat for lightweight women, the ambitious target this event – no less than 26 crews are entered. Getting a place in the top eight will be quite a task.

Sarah Dolan, Lambe’s partner in Lucerne and at the World Under-23 Championships, goes in the lightweight single, a non-Olympic event.

The Ireland (heavyweight) women’s double scull also has to make the top eight to qualify the boat for London. At first glance the crew may seem an unlikely combination: Sanita Puspure is a 29-year-old Latvian mother of two who has just qualified to compete for Ireland at this level, while Lisa Dilleen, just 20, was Ireland’s star junior athlete just two seasons ago, partnering Laura D’Urso in a women’s double which took fourth at the World Junior Championships.

Dilleen and Puspure are, however, similar athletes. Both have good underage records – Puspure medalled at the World Under-23 Championships for Latvia in 2003 – and both are gutsy competitors. They formed this crew earlier this season, and stormed the ramparts with a fifth placing at the Munich World Cup.

The final World Cup at Lucerne was a faltering one for the crew, but with 19 entries in Bled the odds are not insurmountable. If Dilleen and Puspure can produce a sequence of solid performances, Ireland could have a women’s double in London.

As Ireland will have no men’s crew seeking Olympic places, the four talented athletes who make up the men’s lightweight quadruple will be concerned solely with finishing near the top of the rankings. The crew of Niall Kenny, Michael Maher, Justin Ryan and Mark O’Donovan took silver at last year’s World Under-23 Championships, and would love to medal again this season. The odds are good in an entry of eight.

A place at the Paralympic Games is the aim for the sole Ireland adaptive crew. Anne-Marie McDaid, Sarah Caffrey, Shane Ryan, Kevin du Toit and cox Helen Arbuthnot have a good chance of making the crucial top eight in the Legs, Trunk and Arms Mixed Coxed Four.

The event is increasingly popular and a record 16 crews have entered.

Ireland Team for World Rowing Championships, Bled, Slovenia, August 28th to September 4th

Men – Lightweight Quadruple Scull: N Kenny, M Maher, J Ryan, M O’Donovan.

Women – Double Scull: L Dilleen, S Puspure. Lightweight Double Scull: S McCrohan, C Lambe. Lightweight Single Scull: Sarah Dolan.

Adaptive – Legs, Trunk and Arms Mixed Coxed Four: A-M McDaid, S Caffrey, S Ryan, K du Toit; Cox: H Arbuthnot.