O'Donovan brothers and Denise Walsh through to European rowing finals

BY KIERAN McCARTHY

GARY and Paul O’Donovan’s defence of their European Rowing Championships’ men’s lightweight double sculls title remains on track.

The Lisheen brothers finished second in their semi-final in Racice, Czech Republic this morning to take their place in Sunday’s A final.

The Skibbereen Rowing Club brothers finished behind Olympic champions France and just ahead of Germany who were in third.

Gary and Paul finished in 6:38.090, and came up through the field, sixth at 500m, fourth at the halfway point, third with 500m to go, before finishing in second place. They will be eager to defend their title of European champions at 10.46am (Irish time) tomorrow.

It was also a good morning for Skibbereen Rowing Club’s Denise Walsh who looked comfortable throughout the first semi-final of the lightweight women’s single sculls. A silver medallist at World Cup I in Belgrade, Walsh finished second behind Patricia Merz of Austria, three seconds behind the semi-final winner. Walsh finished in a time of 7:42.530, and after passing the first 500 metres in third place, she was a comfortable second all the way to the finish line – and she is a medal contender for Sunday’s A final.

Denise finished just outside the medals at last year’s Europeans and will be keen to medal on Sunday. She races for a medal at 9.46am (Irish time) tomorrow morning.

Also, Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan will race in the lightweight men’s pair final on Sunday. They race at 9.33am Irish time.