Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy qualify Irish lightweight men's double for Paris Olympics!

BY CLARA O'BRIEN

REIGNING Olympic and world champions Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy have secured a spot at Paris for the lightweight men's double.

Making it look easy in their A/B semi-final at the World Rowing Championships in Belgrade, the Skibbereen team of O'Donovan and McCarthy held their composure through the first half of the race, passing the first marker in fifth place and the halfway mark in second place.

Relying on their incredible strength and fitness, they were able to focus on their own race and one by one came through the other crews. In the end they finished with clear water ahead of the field with Czechia and Norway coming in behind them to take the remaining two spots to the A final.

The lightweight women's double of Margaret Cremen and Skibbereen's Aoife Casey were unlucky in their A/B semi-final, just narrowly missing out on the A final. Throughout the entirety of the race there was never more than two seconds separating the top four doubles. Coming to the line Cremen and Casey really closed in on Mary Jones and Michelle Sechser of the USA for that third qualifying spot but running out of water Ireland missed out by just .35 of a second. They race the B Final on Saturday where there is still one spot up for grabs for Paris 2024.

Eimear Lambe, Sanita Puspure, Imogen Magner and Natalie Long finished in fifth place in the women's four sending them through to the B final. They held third position through to the third quarter of the race but after giving it everything there wasn't enough left to squeeze back into the A Final positions. They face Germany, Poland, Denmark, New Zealand and Canada in the B Final this Saturday with one crew coming away with the final spot available at the championships for next year's Olympics.

🚨 The Irish men's lightweight double has qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris! Reigning Olympic champions Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy were dominant in their A/B semi-final at the Worlds in Belgrade. Winning by clear water. pic.twitter.com/tVBKRiGIi4

— Kieran McCarthy (@KieranMcC_SS) September 7, 2023

This afternoon Skibbereen's Jake McCarthy took to the water again for the lightweight men's scull C/D Semi. In extremely challenging conditions, McCarthy finished in sixth place which sends him through to tomorrow's D final against New Zealand, Norway, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Finland.

As well as the lightweight men's double booking their place at the Paris Olympics next summer, Fiona Murtagh and Aifric Keogh have made sure that there will be an Irish women's pair competing next year at the Games. Also, 22-year-old Nathan Timoney and 24 year old Ross Corrigan have been on top form this week and have today qualified a men's pair for Ireland at Paris 2024.