Rowing:Ireland has won a bronze medal at the Rowing World Cup regatta in Amsterdam thanks to a superb performance from Orlagh Duddy in the non-Olympic lightweight single scull (LW1x).
After the initial 500 metres of the race, Duddy lay fourth behind Danelia Reimer of Germany. However, the Derry woman rowed through the German number two to hold the bronze medal position until she crossed the line five seconds ahead of the Danish number two sculler, and four seconds back on gold medallist Van Eupen of The Netherlands, with the Austrian sculler in second.
The twenty-seven year old Derry woman who only made her debut on
the senior international stage three weeks ago, was absolutely
thrilled to medal here.
"It's certainly a special feeling to reach the podium at the
World Cup; I nearly can't believe it! It's been a brilliant last
few months for me; coming into the national set-up, getting to be a
part of that and all it offers and it's great to see the hard work
is starting to pay off with this today", said Duddy.
In the highly competitive final of the Olympic class men's heavyweight four (M4-), the Irish crew of Alan Martin, Sean Casey, Cormac Folan and Sean O'Neill rowed well to place a pleasing fifth.
Irish team manager Mick O'Callaghan was pleased with how the quartet performed; "The four won the B final in Linz, so we're quite pleased they've broken into the A final this weekend and were very competitive in it. They're demonstrating the progress they've made over the last number of months where and when it matters, and that's encouraging to see."
The other Olympic class Irish boat in action; the women's lightweight double of Sinéad Jennings and Niamh NiCheilleachair raced strongly to win their B final this morning, and with it finish 7th overall.
Orla Hayes of Skibbereen (LW1x) and Galway's Liam Molloy (LM2x) were also racing in the lightweight single scull B finals. Hayes took second behind the British sculler, and Molloy third after the second choice Hong Kong and French representatives.
Next up for the Irish is the final leg of this year's Rowing World Cup three weeks from now in Lucerne, typically the last chance to test the field before August's crucial World Championships.