Emily Hegarty and Irish women's four crew book their place in A final at Games in Tokyo

SKIBBEREEN'S Emily Hegarty and the Irish women's four crew have powered into the A final, and the medal race, at the Olympics in Tokyo.

The Irish boat of Hegarty, Fiona Murtagh, Eimear Lambe and Aifric Keogh was impressive as they finished second in their heat, in 6:28.99, just 0.23 of a second behind Australia (6:28.76). The top two in this heat go straight into Wednesday's A final and there was clear water between the top two and Romania, USA and Denmark. In fact, Romania in third were over 11 seconds behind Ireland.

This Irish women's four crew won silver at the Europeans earlier this year and they'll be right in the mix for a medal on Wednesday morning.

Very impressive by Skibbereen's Emily Hegarty and the Irish women's four as they advance to the A final on Wednesday morning at the Olympics.
They're in the medal race. pic.twitter.com/bKpFCI5ngq

— Kieran McCarthy (@KieranMcC_SS) July 24, 2021