Rowing World Championships: Going for gold. The phrase has such resonance we sometimes forget those whose efforts are bent only to winning sometimes lose out on the lesser prizes.
In the World Championship final of the lightweight single scull in Banyoles in Spain yesterday Sinead Jennings took on the favourite, Germany's Nina Gaesler, in a stirring struggle which yielded gold for one and fourth place for the other.
The Irishwoman led for much of the race, only to hit a buoy close to the line and stop dead. Gaesler won gold and Britain's Jo Hammond and Finland's Minna Nieminen passed Jennings to take silver and bronze.
"It was the best race I had, ever," an emotional Jennings said immediately afterwards. For all but the final 10 strokes the race plan had gone perfectly: she led through the 1,000 and 1,500 metres mark, and rowing with length and power she felt she would be able to cover a push by Gaesler at the end.
Jennings thought her sudden stop may have been due to catching submerged weed with her oar, but the race umpire was sure she had hit a buoy.
Jennings, the 2001 world champion, confirmed gold was her sole aim: "I wouldn't have been satisfied with bronze or silver."
The manner of her defeat has made the 27-year-old Donegal woman determined to prove herself next year in the lightweight single. "I have to show that I am the best," she concluded.
Ireland's other big hopes for a medal going into the championships, the men's lightweight pair of Derek Holland and Neil Casey, had to withdraw from the B Final yesterday because Holland had a troublesome abcess.
The lightweight quadruple scull of Brian Young, Herbie Griffin, Diarmaid Mac Colgain and Kenny McDonald can be relatively pleased with their regatta, after a second place in their B final to Britain.
Tim Harnedy, who was in contention for a place in the Olympic lightweight four only weeks ago, also did well. He finished second in the B final of the lightweight single scull, or eighth overall.
"Given the preparation, I don't think I could have done any better," the young Skibbereen man said. As the president of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union, Frank Durkin, maintained yesterday, since Ireland's six best lightweights are in Zagreb preparing for the Olympic Games, "we did okay".
RESULTS - World Championships for Junior and non-Olympic events (Banyoles, Spain, Irish interest): Men, Lightweight Pair - A Final: 1 Denmark (B Helleberg, M Andersen) 6:40.29, 2 Italy (N Moriconi, S Di Somma) 6:40.59, 3 Canada (D Vandor, M Lewis) 6:44.03, 4 Australia 6:45.14, 5 France 6:45.82, 6 Germany 6:49.34.
B Final: 1 Poland (C Morzowicz, R Urbanski) 6:41.03, 2 United States (S Carcagno, M Altman) 6:41.44, 3 Britain (B Webb, J Warnock) 6:42.41, 4 Chile 6:44.65, 5 Ukraine 6:44.70. Ireland Did Not Start.
Lightweight Quadruple Scull - A Final: 1 China 6:36.78, 2 Canada 6:40.86, 3 United States 6:42.56, 4 Switzerland 6:44.05, 5 Spain 6:45.49, 6 Netherlands 6:48.15. B Final: 1 Britain 6:00.05, 2 Ireland (K McDonald, D Mac Colgain, H Griffin, B Young) 6:02.77, 3 Brazil 6:05.74, 4 Slovenia 6:06.85, 5 Denmark 6:07.03.
Lightweight Single Scull - A Final: 1 Germany (P Ording) 7:03.04, 2 Switzerland (S Steiner) 7:03.52, 3 Ukraine (O Serdyuk) 7:05.93, 4 Italy (S Basalini) 7:09.80, 5 France (F Moreau) 7:12.08, 6 Poland (P Randa) 7:17.01. B Final: 1 Russia (D Moiseyev) 7:06.88, 2 Ireland (T Harnedy) 7:07.61, 3 Portugal (L Teixeira Ahrens) 7:08.66, 4 United States (R Montgomery) 7:11.45, 5 Austria (U Daxboeck) 7:11.47, 6 Netherlands (C Delis) 7:12.08.
Women, Lightweight Single Scull - A Final: 1 Germany (N Gaesler) 7:38.51, 2 Britain (J Hammond) 7:40.22, 3 Finland (M Nieminen) 7:40.27, 4 Ireland (S Jennings) 7:41.24, 5 Bulgaria (V Dimitrova) 7:47.63, 6 Romania (L Niga) 8:01.80.
