ROWING O’Donovans fancy final chances against French
THREE Ireland crews will compete in A Finals today at the European Rowing Championships here in the blazing heat of Racice in the Czech Republic.
The pressure to perform has been a very real one on Paul and Gary O’Donovan, but they met their challenge superbly in the semi-final of the lightweight double sculls.
The Olympic champions France stayed ahead of Ireland – the crew they beat in Rio – but the O’Donovans cut through the rest of the field and saw off a late charge by Germany to take a fine second place.
This was the faster of the two semi-finals, and the O’Donovans now look very much in contention for a medal in the final (10.46 Irish time).
‘Our tactic was to stick with the field. In the first race (the heat) we let Poland get too (far ahead) and we found it difficult to reel them in.
‘We said that if we kept touch with the main pack we have a good, solid, middle of the race and thankfully that got us through,’ said Gary O’Donovan.
Both men fought shy of saying they could beat the French. ‘I think we can,’ added Paul. ‘I don’t know if we will tomorrow or not. We’ll try our best.’
Gary noted that all the Ireland crews have emerged from one club. ‘The athletes from Skibbereen rowing club are the only athletes representing Ireland this weekend. We’re all racing for medals tomorrow. It’s an exciting day for Ireland and especially for Skibbereen.’
The lightweight men’s pair of Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll have a real chance of taking gold in that final (9.33 Irish time).
Denise Walsh competes in the A Final of the women’s lightweight single sculls (9.46) fresh from a good performance in the semi-final.
Switzerland’s Patricia Merz dominated the race, but Walsh (24) sculled very well to take second.