Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy qualify Irish men's lightweight double for 2020 Olympics

BY KIERAN McCARTHY

GREAT news from the World Rowing Championships in Linz, Austria this morning, as the Skibbereen duo of Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy have qualified the Irish men’s lightweight double sculls for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Having impressed all week, Paul and Fintan turned on the style in Thursday morning’s second A/B semi-final to move from third with 500 metres to go and finish ahead of Germany in second and Norway in third.

The top three from this semi-final go into the A final at these world championships but they also take a priceless qualification spot for next summer’s Olympics. All six A finalists plus the winner of the B final will progress to next summer’s Games in Tokyo.

Paul won a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics in the double alongside his brother Gary.
 

Watch how Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy won their A/B semi-final at the world rowing champs and qualified the Irish men's lightweight double for the 2020 Olympics.@skibbrowing @RowingIreland pic.twitter.com/kBWQACh8uC

— Kieran McCarthy (@KieranMcC_SS) August 29, 2019