Denise Walsh wrapped up her best-ever international season with a sixth place finish in the A final of the women's lightweight single sculls at the World Rowing Championships.
BY KIERAN McCARTHY
DENISE Walsh wrapped up her best-ever international season with a sixth place finish in the A final of the women’s lightweight single sculls at the World Rowing Championships.
This year has already seen the Skibbereen woman win a silver medal at the European Rowing Championships and also silver at World Rowing Cup I in Belgrade, and while she missed out on a medal at the worlds, Denise has still made huge progress this year.
The 24-year-old had impressed en route to the A final, winning both her heat and her A/B semi-final and she was expected to be in contention for a place on the podium last Friday. But Denise, who was fifth at the 500-metre mark, slipped back to sixth place and wasn’t in the reckoning for a medal with gold going to Kirsten McCann of South Africa in 7:38.780, with the Irish sculler a distant sixth by the end, finishing in 7:49.270.
It’s been a season of significant improvement for Denise who finished second in the C final in the single sculls at the 2015 worlds, which was 14th overall.
Now she is ranked in the top six in the world with medals in her back pocket, so the outlook is very bright.
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