After twice being delayed due to adverse weather, Siobhán McCrohan got the defence of her World Rowing Championships lightweight single sculls title under way in impressive style at the Royal Canadian Henley course in St Catharines, Canada.
After Monday’s entire session was postponed, Tuesday’s start was also delayed, before McCrohan took the water in the third of four heats and won comfortably, going straight into Friday’s semi-finals.
The 37-year-old from Galway, who took almost a decade away from elite rowing before returning to win the world title in Belgrade last September, finished in 8:23.03, over five seconds clear of Mexico’s Kenia Lechuga Alanis, who was the early leader at the 500m mark.
McCrohan was a second clear at halfway, and finished strongly to lay down a marker ahead of the race for the final lanes. Her time was the fastest of the four heats, the next best being the 8:26.33 in the second heat won by Greece’s Zoi Fitsiou.
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Romania’s Ionela Cozmiuc won the fourth heat in 8:26.88, and raced against Fitsiou in the final of the lightweight women’s double sculls in Paris taking silver and bronze respectively (behind Britain).
With the Paris Olympic Games having only just concluded, and the Paralympic Games already in sight, this event is for the non-Olympic and non-Paralympic boat classes, of which six are being contested, and combined along with the World Under-23 and Under-19 Championships.
On Sunday, Paul O’Donovan was also a convincing winner of his opening heat in the lightweight men’s single sculls, and goes into Friday’s semi-finals ranked second fastest.
Just over two weeks on from winning a second Olympic gold in the lightweight doubles in Paris alongside Fintan McCarthy, O’Donovan is no stranger to the lightweight single sculls; the last time that the combined World Rowing Championships was run, in 2016, O’Donovan, then aged 22, won gold in this same boat class. He defended the title in 2017 before moving into the double sculls which he has generally raced in ever since.
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