Thursday 1st August 2024
Team Ireland rowers Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch have won a brilliant Olympic bronze medal in the final of the Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. In winning bronze today this is the first ever male heavyweight Olympic medal for Ireland, and a fourth ever Irish Olympic rowing medal, so a place in the history books awaits for these incredible Irish oarsmen.
The Women’s Double Sculls (W2x) of Zoe Hyde and Alison Bergin finished fourth in the B final of their event this morning; a 10th place overall at Paris 2024 for this crew who are competing in their first Olympic Games.
The Women’s Four (W4-) of Emily Hegarty, Natalie Long, Eimear Lambe and Imogen Magner raced very well this morning to win the B final of their event and complete their Paris Olympic Games in 7th place overall.
In swimming Tom Fannon (pictured) made his Olympic debut in the heats of the Men’s 50m Freestyle and impressed to win his heat in a new PB of 21.79 to advance to the semi-finals tonight ranked joint 6th on times.
In Equestrian Team Ireland’s show jumpers began their Paris 2024 campaign this morning at the picturesque Palace of Versailles venue with the team qualifier and secured a spot in the final tomorrow finishing 6th of the 20 on nine faults.
Both Men’s and Women’s Dinghy sailors begin their respective fleet series’ today. In the Men’s Dinghy Finn Lynch has finished his opening race with a provisional result of 9th of the 43 starters, but this is yet to be officially confirmed.
In golf Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry got their first rounds underway this morning at Le Golf National in the Men’s Individual competition. McIlroy finished on 3 under par, five shots behind first-round leader Hideki Matsuyama. Lowry finished level par.
The men’s hockey team were beaten 2-1 by world #7 Argentina in the fourth of their pool matches and are now eliminated. Lee Cole scored Ireland’s goal.
ROWING
Team Ireland rowers Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch have won a brilliant Olympic bronze medal in the final of the Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. In doing the Irish duo have won Team Ireland’s fourth medal at these Olympic Games, after Mona McSharry claimed bronze, Daniel Wiffen gold, and Kellie Harrington secured at least a bronze. Prior the today’s performance from Doyle and Lynch Ireland have won three Olympic rowing medals before; one gold (LM2x Tokyo), one silver (LM2x Rio), and one bronze (W4- Tokyo). In winning bronze today this is the first ever male heavyweight Olympic medal for Ireland so a place in the history books awaits for these incredible Irish oarsmen. In a final contested in somewhat faster conditions than have been seen over the last number of days with a slight tailwind at Vaires-sur-Marne, the favoured Dutch crew were beaten into silver by a brilliant performance from the Romanian double who took the race to the field to claim gold, with the Irish outsprinting the Americans to claim the coveted bronze medal. Banbridge’s Philip Doyle (Belfast Boat Club) and Clonmel’s Daire Lynch (Clonmel Rowing Club) have been competing together in the Men’s Double since the 2023 European Championships, and have been on an international podium four times since; Bronze at the 2023 World Cup III and World Championships, Bronze at the 2024 World Cup I and Gold at World Cup III. Doyle and Lynch also won gold in the final World Cup this season which was the first ever gold medal for a heavy men’s crew in Irish history. Doyle and Lynch are coached by men’s head coach Fran Keane. The Tokyo Olympics was the first time a Men’s (Heavyweight) Double competed for Ireland. At those Games Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne contested the event together and finished fourth in the B Final; 10th place overall. At the time Daire Lynch travelled to Tokyo with the team as the reserve rower, having narrowly missed out on qualification in the Men’s Single.
Doyle referenced in his RTÉ interview straight after coming off the water that he felt he made a slight mistake coming to the line, here he explains: “There was actually a bit of a wash the whole way down and a bit more of a headwind than we thought. We were being pushed a little bit over, kind of overworking one side. I’ve a bit of neck thing that's been at me all year and it just sort of then started seizing up. But we were on the red line and then I kind of just lost the handle a little bit in one of the strokes and I looked and I was like, ‘Jeez, please not now!’ and I looked up and I was like, ‘oh the Americans are far enough back. We were moving on the Dutch but look, what can you do? You push yourself to the line. Sometimes you fall over it but you just manage to rectify the glitch. You just try and smooth it out and then relax a bit more, because if the body gets tense, then you'll overwork it.”
On winning an Olympic medal just 15 months after they first got together as a crew Lynch gave this take: “Yeah, I was over America until the March last year and then when I came back, like I didn't really know what to expect when I came back, I was just hoping to get into a boat. Straight away we started going very well and really, since then, we haven't really been touched, and, like a lot of crews you have your ups and downs but we’ve been extremely consistent.”
Doyle added: "I had a campaign in the single on my mind and then Daire showed up from New York and we did a trial with some of the young guys off the U23 team and Daire won out and he wasn't at his fittest after coming back from NY and then he just got fitter and faster and nobody else really had a chance to step into the boat. There's lads in Ireland training hard, moving boats quickly , U23 lads who'll go to Canada (World Championships this month) who I'm sure will have a stormer. I'm just delighted we were able to put the marker down all year and say 'this is our boat, if you want my seat you're gonna have to take it off me!' It was great to stand by that on the biggest stage in the world.
The Banbridge man continued: “It's all about synchronising, working together, making the most out of each other as a pairing and I think we're ying and yang personalities maybe a little but we've found the best way to match together and work off each other's strengths. The things I lack he brings, and the things he lacks I bring. It seems to work and it's been a great partnership over the last 15 months which has born fruit again and again."
Daire admitted he was in New York working and decided ‘there has to be more to life than this!’, started training again on the rowing machine in his apartment building morning and evening and was getting fit again and decided he'd try for the Olympics: "Who would have known a year and a half ago that I'd be getting a bronze medal!" he said.
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EQUESTRIAN
The Irish show jumping team of Daniel Coyle with Legacy, Shane Sweetnam with the Irish-bred James Kann Cruz, and Cian O’Connor with Maurice have qualified for Friday’s team final where the top 10 nations will contest the medals.
The Irish trio team finished in sixth place of 20 on a score of 9 faults. Shane Sweetnam opened up with 4 faults on James Kann Cruz, before Daniel Coyle and Legacy settled any potential nerves with a clear round.Anchor man Cian O’Connor was on his way to a flawless round, but knocked the plank in the triple before coming home just outside the time to finish on five faults.
After his round four time Olympian O’Connor said: “Perfect start to our competition – Shane got us off to a great start and Daniel’s mare was sensational. There’s something different about the three-man format – you saw Peder Fredricson nipped out at the well and it’s very nearly cost them dearly so I want to be safe, get round in one piece and have a go at it tomorrow. Top 10 finish was the aim of the day today – whether you finish first or tenth it’s just to determine the order of jumping so we didn’t put too much pressure on ourselves. We’ll have a good chat tonight and hopefully we’ll have a few more clears tomorrow.”
On Friday all 10 will start on zero penalties, and a jump-off will take place in the event of a tie to decide the medal placings.
SWIMMING
Tom Fannon, who has Galway connections as his grandfather hails from Castleblakeney, had the swim of his life in the biggest moment of his career as he made his Olympic debut for Team Ireland at Paris La Defence this morning. Fannon swam a new Irish Record of 21.79 to win his heat and progresses to this evening’s semi-final in sixth place overall. Fannon's previous best time was 21.94, which he swam at the Irish Open and Olympic Trials in May, ensuring his qualification for the Games.
A delighted Fannon spoke after the race: “Just over the moon with it to be honest, I said to a couple of other media outlets I did not expect the time to be so fast considering my finish was so bad. I know it felt good swimming wise, you can always kind of see people beside you. Wow, what a feeling I got at the end, I’ve never had a feeling quite like that.”
The 26-year-old, who has qualified for tonight’s semi-finals ahead of some major names in the event, continued: “It gives confidence, I think a swim like that would give you great confidence as well, but not getting too ahead of it, because those boys sometimes go a little bit easier in the morning, and they take a while to warm up, so tonight is all about just trying to be as fast as possible and making it back. I said my major goal here was making it through the rounds and that is still the case, not a time, but just make it through, get your hand on the wall before the person next to you, so do that and hopefully be in a final tomorrow.’
LATER
In sailing, a second attempt at the Sailing medal race in the Men’s Skiff has been abandoned in Marseille. Inadequate winds have forced the race to be called-off twice in the last couple of hours. It's likely the medal race will be run tomorrow, with the Irish crew of Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove need to finish fourth or better to secure a medal. The Irish duo, competing in their second Olympics together, stand second overall on 73 net points, five points behind the Spaniards in first on 68 net points, and three ahead of New Zealand in third on 76 points heading into tomorrow’s top ten medal race. USA are on 80 points in fourth and Poland in fifth on 83 but in reality, the double-points medal race this afternoon could go to any of the top eight boats (ninth and tenth can't make podium). The Medal Race is over a shorter version of the course they have been racing all week, with points scored in it doubled and added to the series points to decide the medals.
Both Men’s and Women’s Dinghy sailors begin their respective fleet series’ with the Men’s Dinghy now underway. 20-year-old Eve McMahon will make her Olympic debut in the women’s equivalent this afternoon.
In canoe slalom Olympic debutant Noel Hendrick from Kildare finished 15th in the semi-final of the Men’s K1 semi-final this afternoon and is eliminated, as only the top 12 advanced to the final.
In boxing Talented Bray flyweight Daina Moorehouse will make her Olympic debut tonight, in the last 16 of the 50kg. Moorhouse faces France’s Wassila Lkhadiri, a two-time European medallist who beat her in the quarter-finals of last year's European Games.
Sallynoggin heavyweight (92kg) Jack Marley, who made such an impressive Olympic debut last Sunday, is within one win of a guaranteed medal. He faces Davlat Boltaev of Tajikistan tonight in the 92kg quarter-finals; a 6’1” Asian Games champion whom he has never met before.
RESULTS DAY 6 – Thursday 1st August
Rowing, Women’s Double Sculls (W2x), Zoe Hyde and Alison Bergin, 4th in B final in 6:55.62; 10th overall
Rowing, Women’s Four (W4-), B final (7-12 placings), Emily Hegarty, Natalie Long, Eimear Lambe, & Imogen Magner, won B final in 6:34.74, 7th overall
Rowing, Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) FINAL, Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch, BRONZE MEDAL in 6:15.17
Swimming, Men’s 50m Freestyle, Tom Fannon, won heat in 21.79 PB,NR, through to semi-finals tonight as joint 6thfastest time
Equestrian, Jumping Team Qualifier, Cian O’Connor, Daniel Coyle, Shane Sweetnam, qualified for Team final on August 2nd
Golf, Men’s Individual, Round 1, Rory McIlroy, -3 F
Golf, Men’s Individual, Round 1, Shane Lowry, Level
Sailing, Men’s Dinghy, Finn Lynch, provisionally 9th in Race 1
