ROWING:HOLLY NIXON and Paul O'Donovan got Ireland off to a winning start at the World Rowing Junior Championships at Dorney Lake in England yesterday.
Nixon was dominant in her heat of the single scull. She took the lead early and was out on her own all down the course in conditions which were choppy with a headwind.
At the end the Enniskillen woman had over 10 seconds to spare over Juliette Jeannet of Switzerland, who herself was well ahead of the rest of the field.
Both qualified directly for the A/B semi-finals, saving them a repechage today.
O’Donovan took command of his heat on the men’s single in the final quarter: he was in the lead with 250 metres to go and pushed on to lead by two lengths at one stage. Because there were 24 or more competitors (27 started), there are quarter-finals in this event and the Skibbereen man will take on that challenge today.
Nixon and O’Donovan are Ireland’s sole representatives at the Championships, which is the test event for the Olympic Games rowing regatta at the same venue next year.
WORLD ROWING JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS(Dorney Lake, Britain): (Irish interest) Men Junior Single Scull – Heat Three (first four directly to quarter-finals): 1 Ireland (P O'Donovan) 7:55.25, 2 Latvia 7:59.08, 3 Belarus 7:59.81, 4 Tunisia 8:03.74; 5 Georgia 8:41.14.
Women Junior Single Scull – Heat Two (first two directly to A/B semi-finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Ireland (H Nixon) 8:45.23, 2 Switzerland (J Jeannet) 8:55.51; 3 Belgium 9:04.72, 4 Slovenia 9:04.80, 5 Venezeula 10:06.41.
