The 2024 International season has officially begun with day one of the first World Cup coming to a close here in Italy. This is the first opportunity for the crews from Ireland to test the waters after they last competed seven months ago at the 2023 World Championships, and they're off to a strong start.
Galway natives, Fiona Murtagh and Aifric Keogh were first to hit the water this morning in the Women's Pair. After Italy and Croatia scratched their entries yesterday, their race was reduced to a straight final with today's heat turning into a preliminary race for lanes. Ireland finished just one second behind the crew from the Netherlands, the 2023 World Championship gold medalists. As a prelim race, there are lots of different strategies from the individual teams so Sunday's final is due to be an interesting one.
The Women's Four of Emily Hegarty, Natalie Long, Eimear Lambe and Imogen Magner stole the show today clinching first place in their heat, just ahead of reigning World Champions the Netherlands. Sitting in third place right up until the last 500, Ireland left it to their final sprint to not only move into the top two direct qualifying spots, but into the leading position. Sunday's final is one to tune into.
Sanita Puspure is back with a bang. Racing in her single for the first time since her challenging races in Tokyo, Puspure has started as she means to go on. Crossing the line first in her heat, Puspure goes into the A/B Semifinals tomorrow with the second fastest time. She goes head to head with Switzerland, Norway, Germany, Ukraine and Sweden hoping to make it into the top three spots which will go on to the A Final.
Both of Ireland's Men's Scullers, Konan Pazzaia and Brian Colsh, successfully progressed from their heats and qualified for this afternoon's Quarterfinals. Pazzaia had a gutsy race, going out strong and sitting on the bow of 2023 World silver medalist, Simon Van Dorp. He held his position through the race finishing in second place. Galway's Brian Colsh finished third in his heat securing his spot in the Quarterfinals.
Pazzaia bumped it up again in the Men's Single Quarterfinals, beating Quentin Antognelli from Monaco on the line to finish in third, the last qualifying spot to the A/B Semi. Tomorrow he'll face last year's World Champion, Ollie Zeidler from Germany. Colsh is into the C Final after a fifth place finish in his Quarterfinal. He'll be first up for Ireland in the morning.
Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch are into tomorrow morning's repechage in the Men's Double. With only one crew from the heat to qualify directly into the A Final, Ireland just missed out but looked comfortable crossing the line. Tomorrow they face Finland, Croatia, Australia and Great Britain with the fastest two doubles making it to the race for medals on Sunday.
The Fermanagh pair of Nathan Timoney and Ross Corrigan finished fourth in the heat of the Men's Pair and are into tomorrow's repechage. Coming fifth through the first marker, Timoney and Corrigan pushed their way into fourth place over the next 500 meters. The top two crews tomorrow will make it through to the A Final.
The Men's Four of John Kearney, Andrew Sheehan, Jack Dorney and Ronan Byrne finished fifth in their heat and will race again tomorrow in the repechage. It's just two boats from a competitive field that will make it through to Sunday's A Final.
Follow the Racing
On the World Rowing website (HERE) there will be a live race tracker and live audio commentary for every race, and live video streaming on Saturday, from 9:30 to 11:25, and on Sunday from 10:00 to 13:30 for all A-Finals. Follow the Rowing Ireland social media for live updates on results!
Saturday Schedule (IST)
- 9:15am - Men's Single C Final (Colsh)
- 9:35am - Men's Pair Repechage
- 9:53am - Men's Double Repechage
- 10:07am - Men's Four Repechage
- 10:19am - Women's Single A/B Semi
- 10:25am - Men's Single A/B Semi (Pazzaia)
