Irish duo win world U23 gold, O'Donovan and McCrohan into finals
At World 2024 In Rowing Action O’donovan Championships Paul Ireland’s Seyb The ©inpho/detlev Picture:
Donnacha Keeley and Ciarán Purdy won gold for Ireland in the lightweight double sculls at the World U23 Rowing Championships in St Catharine's, Canada on Friday.
Clonmel man Keeley and Belfast man Purdy won in 6:14.58, less than a second slower than the world u23 best time for the event. They finished 0.75 ahead of Italy in second and 1.49 seconds ahead of France in third. Purdy won silver in the event two years ago alongside Hugh Moore.
Cork's Adam Murphy and Sligo's Brian Colsh claimed bronze in the men's U23 double. The Irish boat finished in 6:15.80, nearly five seconds behind winners Australia and just under two second behind second-placed Poland. Ireland were the defending champions. Colsh won gold with Konan Pazzaia as his part last year in Belgrade.
Paul O'Donovan and Siobhán McCrohan both qualified for their respective finals in the lightweight single sculls at the senior championships which are being held at the same venue.
O'Donovan won his semi-final in 6:47.74, the fastest time of the two races. Recording the best time ensured the Corkman secured one of the prime centre lanes for the final.
Saturday's final, which takes place at 8pm Irish time, should be an intriguing race. The first semi-final was won by Greece's Antonios Papakonstantinou who claimed bronze in the lightweight double sculls Paris, the event in which O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy defended their Olympic title. Italy's Niels Torre, who had set the world's best time for the 2000m of the lightweight single sculls in the heats on Sunday, finished second to the Greek. The Irishman is a two-time world champion in the lightweight single. He won the 2016 and 2017 titles.
McCrohan finished second in her heat, eight and a half seconds behind Ionela Livia Cozmiuc. The Romanian won silver in the lightweight double at the Paris Olympics. Greece's Zoi Fitsiou, winner of a bronze medal in the lightweight double in Paris, set the fastest time of the semi-finals. Galway native McCrohan's time was the fourth fastest of the qualifiers for the final, which goes off at 7:43pm on Saturday. 37-year-old McCrohan is the defending champion. After a seven-year hiatus from rowing, she returned to the sport to claim gold in Belgrade last year.
This World Championships features the non-Olympic and non-Paralympic events. Saturday night's finals will be streamed live on the World Rowing YouTube channel.