Well, that changes things considerably. Day four of the World Rowing Championships in Belgrade, and minutes after Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy produced another sterling win in their quarter-final of the lightweight double sculls, the French crew, widely considered their main rivals, saw their hopes go sinking fast.
In July, at the final World Cup Regatta in Lucerne, O’Donovan and McCarthy were back racing for the first time this season, after O’Donovan completed his medical studies at UCC. The relatively unheralded French crew of Hugo Beurey and Ferdinand Ludwig edged them out on the line, winning by 0.09 of a second, laying down their own marker before the Paris Olympics.
Only now there’s no guarantee they’ll even qualify, as they finished way off the pace in fifth in their quarter-final.
With the top three boats progressing to the A/B Semi-finals, the Skibbereen pair did have some room to play with; starting with some trademark caution in their first quarter-final, they soon hit the front and finished a full boat length clear of the Italian crew of Stefano Oppo and Gabriel Soares, 6:46.53 to 6:49.83.
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In the second quarter-final, Spain took the win in 6:48.68, the French never in contention, finishing fifth in 7:01.78. Conditions at the Ada Ciganlija regatta course on Sava Lake, in the heart of the Serbian capital, were a little more testing, still it marks a serious blow to the French Olympic ambitions.
O’Donovan and McCarthy are back on the water on Thursday morning, only needing a top-seven finish in the 12-boat semi-finals to seal Olympic qualification, before they can turn their attention to winning a hat-trick of World Championship titles on Saturday.
It was an equally productive day for men’s pair of Nathan Timoney and Ross Corrigan, followed by the men’s double scull of Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch.
Although Timoney (22) and Corrigan (24) have been rowing together since their teenage years in Enniskillen, they are a new pairing this season, and now find themselves on the verge of Olympic qualification too.
In their quarter-final, they immediately got themselves into the top three and never surrendered it, the Swiss crew winning in 7:06.12, before the Irish finished a clear second in 7:08.20. There are 11 Paris qualifying spots from their semi-final, every indication being that’s well within their grasp.
Likewise for Doyle and Lynch, who produced an equally impressive show in their quarter-final, moving into second in the last 500m to finish behind the Dutch crew, 6:38.79 to 6:41.89.
For Lynch, who at age 30 has again deferred his medical career in the hope of making his second successive Olympics, and find some “redemption” after Tokyo, the new partnership with Lynch, the 24-year-old from Clonmel, is clearly working a treat.
Jake McCarthy, twin brother of Fintan, came through the repechage for his quarter-final of the lightweight men’s scull, a-non Olympic class, only his medal hopes ended here, as he finished fifth behind the Italian rower Niels Torre, and will contest the C/D finals.
Thursday’s schedule
9:55-10:05am W2- A/B semi-final: Fiona Murtagh (University of Galway BC); Aifric Keogh (Dublin University Ladies BC)
10:15-10:25am M2- A/B semi-final: Nathan Timoney (Queen’s University Belfast BC), Ross Corrigan (Portora BC)
10:35-10:45am LW2x A/B semi-final: Margaret Cremen (University College Cork RC), Aoife Casey (Skibbereen RC)
10:55-11:05am LM2x A/B semi-final: Paul O’Donovan (University College Cork RC); Fintan McCarthy (Skibbereen RC)
11:15-11:25am W4- A/B semi-final: Eimear Lambe (Old Collegians BC), Sanita Puspure (Old Collegians BC), Imogen Magner (Carlow RC), Natalie Long (Lee Valley RC)
