Rowing: The Irish men's lighweight four of Richard Archibald Paul Griffin, Eugene Coakley and Gearoid Towey claimed bronze at the World Rowing Championships today while Sinead Jennings and Niamh NiCheilleachair won the women's lightweight double B final at Eton.
In another good day on the water for the Irish boats the men's quartet came so close to winning the silver but were pipped on the line by France. Ireland had made a strong start to lead at the 500metre stage but by the halfway stage they had been edged by the Chinese boat.
Moving into the latter stages of the race China still held the lead with 500m to go but the irish were gaining all the time. However, having given it their all they irish boat faded somewhat as France emerged to challenge for second. And just when it looke as though ireland would hold on France came through on the final stroke.
Richard Archibald and his Irish team-mates won a bronze medal in the lightweight four final at the World Rowing Championships on Sunday.
Coleraine man Archibald, Paul Griffin, Eugene Coakley and Gearoid Towey, silver medallists last year, battled to keep pace with winners China.
Earlier in the day Jennings and NiCheilleachair won their B final to finish seventh overall and emulated what the men's Irish heavyweight four achieved just 24 hours previous.
Despite missing out on a place in the A final the pair stuck to their task and if they achieve the same feat at next year's World Championships they will gain a place at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing
Jennings and NiCheilleachair's made a much better start in today's final compared their semi-final and that gave the Irish boat the lead at halfway point Doggedly, they never relinquished that lead and led to the line ahead of Poland, USA and Germany.
Other action from Eton saw Richard Chambers and Chris Bartley finish sixth in the lightweight pairs final. Fermanagh's Karen Cromie and her team-mate James Roberts finished sixth in the trunk and arms double sculls final.