FINTAN McCarthy is taking the step up to heavyweight in his stride.
Having won a bronze medal in the men’s double sculls at the European Rowing Championships, the Skibbereen rower made it two medals in two regattas when he brought home another bronze from World Rowing Cup II in Lucerne.
Continuing their medal-winning partnership from the Europeans, Fintan again teamed up with Konan Pazzaia (Queen’s University Belfast Boat Club) – it’s so far, so good for this new combination.
Having finished second in their heat on Friday, Fintan and Pazzaia won their A/B semi-final on Saturday, beating the other Irish double of Paul O’Donovan and Daire Lynch (UCD Boat Club) who finished third and also qualified for the A final on Sunday.
Fintan McCarthy celebrates winning bronze.
Having conquered the world of lightweight rowing with back-to-back Olympic gold medals, Skibbereen rowers Fintan and Paul find themselves in different boats right now at heavyweight level – last weekend, bragging rights rested with Fintan who has enjoyed an encouraging start to his heavyweight story.
In Sunday’s A final, Fintan and Pazzaia led for most of the race, but were overtaken in the final 200 metres by Serbia’s Martin Mackovic and Nikolaj Pimenov who won gold in 6:10.48, ahead of New Zealand’s Finlay Hamill and Benjamin Mason who were just 0.05 seconds behind. The Irish double of Fintan and Pazzaia came in third, in 6:11.65.
The second Irish boat of Paul and Daire Lynch was never really in the medal conversation and finished in fifth place in 6:16.18.
There was more Skibbereen Rowing Club interest, too, as Aisling Hayes was with the Irish women’s four crew that finished third in the B final with a time of 6:41.23. Hayes was joined in the boat by Claire Feerick (Neptune Rowing Club/Oxford Brookes), Natalie Long (Lee Valley Rowing Club) and Imogen Magner (Lee Valley Rowing Club).
