Incredible performance by Skibbereen men in A final at World Rowing Championships
SKIBBEREEN’S standing as the hotspot of Irish rowing was rubberstamped on Saturday afternoon after Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy romped to an incredible gold in the A final of the men’s lightweight double sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Linz.
The Skibbereen men were emphatic winners with over two and a half seconds between them and Italy in second place while Germany in third were almost four seconds behind Paul and Fintan.
The Irish boat had started slowly in this final and were sixth after 500 metres but they produced a surging move in the middle part to push up on the leaders and hit the front with over 500 metres to go.
Paul told World Rowing afterwards: 'We couldn’t quite believe it but it’s always really nice to win. Our start wasn’t great but we finished well. We will take a lot of confidence with this moving forward.'
This is Paul’s fourth successive world gold medal following on from wins in the single in 2016 and 2017 and the double with Gary O’Donovan in 2018, while this is Fintan’s first world gold.
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