Ireland’s Paul O’Donovan and Siobhán McCrohan have qualified for the A finals in the senior lightweight single sculls event at the World Rowing Championships in Canada.
The event is taking place in St Catharines, Ontario, featuring a number of Olympians fresh from the Paris Games.
First in action for Ireland on Friday was McCrohan, who qualified for the A/B semi-finals after winning her heat five seconds ahead of her nearest challenger on Tuesday.
Placed in lane four, McCrohan, who is the reigning champion in the event from last year’s World Championships in Belgrade, had Romania’s Ionela Livia Cozmiuc for company in lane three.
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The Romanian set off strong, building up a 24-meter lead over McCrohan in second by the halfway mark.
After 1,500m, Cozmiuc’s lead was cemented as she pushed for the line, but the Galway woman held her pace, with her comfortable lead over France’s Aurelie Morizot in third being enough to see her through to Saturday’s final.
McCrohan crossed the finish line 8.48 seconds behind the Romanian, who clocked 7:25.56, while Morizot took the remaining spot in the A final.
In the senior men’s lightweight semi-finals, O’Donovan was the man to watch in the second semi-final, and his sheer dominance from start to finish proved just why.
The gold medallist from the Olympic Games in Paris showed no signs of fatigue, leading from the off and racking up a 2.6 second lead over Austria’s Julian Schoeberl in second by the 1,500m point.
O’Donovan, who is also the reigning champion in the event from Belgrade, had extended his lead over Schoeberl with 100m remaining, ultimately crossing the line 6.34 seconds to the good.
The Austrian held on to take second, while the last qualifier for the A final was Mexico’s Alexis Lopez Garcia.
They will be joined in Saturday evening’s final by Greece’s Antonios Papakonstantinou, Italy’s Niels Torre and Samuel Melvin of the USA who qualified from the earlier semi-final.
O’Donovan’s time of 6:47.74 was fastest across the two semi-finals, beating the next fastest qualifier, Papakonstantinou, by over two seconds, putting the Skibbereen man in lane four for the final.
McCrohan will take to the water in lane two, again sandwiched between Morizot and Cozmiuc, while the remainder of the field is filled by Greece’s Zoi Fitsiou, Mexico’s Kenia Lechuga Alanis, and Austria’s Lara Tiefenthaler.
The lightweight women’s single sculls A final is scheduled to take place at 7.43pm Irish time on Saturday, followed by the men’s event at 8pm.
