Two and a half weeks after first getting into the double scull, Noel Monahan and former world under-23 champion Gearoid Towey yesterday missed out on a semi-final place and are now unlikely to take their partnership of convenience beyond these World Championships. Ironically, the lightweight double was beginning to show signs of cohesion. Initial teething problems with their boat had been corrected, energy sapping heat had been replaced by low mountain mist and, halfway into the repechage, split times showed more than a second's worth of improvement on their first heat speed.

With only two semi-final places on offer though, the pressure was on Monahan and Towey to push through from their fourth place. They passed a tiring Canadian crew but their time for the third and penultimate 500m effectively sealed off the Irish pair's fate; the gap behind the Americans and the French World Cup bronze medallists was still widening. Crossing the line five lengths in the wake of the French double left Towey in reflective mood: "We knew the French were fast and it was a matter of concentrating on the Americans. With only two going through, we had to treat it as a final and go all out".

Having seen Ross O'Donovan's progress in the lightweight singles - the Skibbereen man races his semi-final today - Towey could be forgiven for regarding Aiguebelette as a second lost opportunity in as many championships. Their coach was not answering questions yesterday but whatever the reasoning behind the last-minute and ill prepared double campaign, there is little chance of its being developed further. Funding for Towey is now guaranteed for next year and a poor result here could have written off his single scull ambitions. It has also boosted Noel Monaghan's claim to a seat in next year's squad, particularly if the double finishes well in today's C final. "We got to gel in the couple of weeks we've had together which is no mean feat. A year changes everything, though, and we may make better strides individually," said the Shandon sculler.

A philosophical approach has also been adopted by Debbie Stack and Vanessa Lawrenson who race in today's semi-finals. The pair have a tough draw and with just three crews to go through, the strategy will be to catch the touted Bellarussians unaware while the Romanian favourites and Canada's silver medallists from Lucerne fight out the number one spot.

The overall picture here is that France are proving to be perfect hosts - and all the French boats have qualified for the semi-finals or finals, together with Australia, the leading rowing nation at last year's Atlanta Olympics.

However, French team boss Eberhard Mund sounded a note of caution: "We're not in the finals yet and the world championships only start for good on Saturday."

Germany and Britain will be the strongest nations on the Aiguebelette lake during the weekend, with 19 and 14 boats respectively in the final stages.

The highlights yesterday were the two repechage heats of the men's eights. Olympic champions the Netherlands failed to qualify for the final, though it was hardly a surprise as the crew who snatched gold in Atlanta have retired.

World champions Germany, beaten into second place by the Dutch at the Olympics, won their second heat, beating the United States by half a second.

Britain and Russia will be the other teams in the final of the blue riband event of the championships, with favourites Romania and Australia.

Like the Dutch, the Canadians were a major disappointment, finishing third in their repechage heat and failing to make it to the final.

Canada had picked their best oarsmen for their eights boat and had real hopes after taking second place in last month's World Cup regatta in Lucerne.