Casey: No way was I going to finish fourth at Worlds

AOIFE Casey was never going to settle for fourth place at the World Rowing Championships.

‘What was going through my head in those last few hundred metres is that there is no way I am coming fourth in this final, I will die trying in this race and we need to find an extra gear. Luckily we did,’ the Skibbereen rower told the Star Sport Podcast. Casey partnered Margaret Cremen to a brilliant bronze medal at the recent senior Worlds. It’s a breakthrough moment, the race where the two 23-year-old Cork rowers announced their arrival on the big stage. 

In the last 500 metres of the lightweight women’s double A final, and locked in a battle for bronze with the French boat that won Olympic silver last year, Casey and Cremen delivered. ‘It really comes down to who wants it more,’ Casey says.

‘At some point in the race you just have to just go. At the Europeans (in August) I came fourth in the single sculls and Mags and Lydia (Heaphy) came fourth in the double. We said it’s the best place to come for motivation but the worst place because you are just outside the medals.’

In Racice Casey and Cremen dug deep to win bronze, and it has seen their stock rise as attention turns to 2023 when Olympic qualification for the Games in Paris will begin. But the Irish women’s lightweight double intends to enjoy their biggest achievement yet before returning to training in a few weeks time. Key to their emergence, and the continued success of the Irish lightweight group, is Aoife’s dad, coach Dominic Casey. The moment the trio of Aoife, Mags and Dominic shared at the Worlds, after they won bronze, will stay with them all.

‘With the way that dad coaches he is really transparent, he doesn't have favorites, everyone is treated the same way, but even him taking the oars off us in the slip and me and Mags giving him a hug, we are all on cloud nine after that. Who could have believed it? It’s been a long journey, and to be able to celebrate with him after the race, the three of us, was really special,’ Casey says.

‘We are a team when it comes down to it. For him to get the most out of us and for us to produce the results, it shows that what we are doing at the National Rowing Centre is really working. It's a testament to the programme that he builds, the way we train and the environment that we are working in.’