Ireland had further success at the 2018 World Rowing Championships today with three crews now having secured semi-final places and a fourth boat going through to quarter finals. The remaining Irish crews are still in the mix for quarter and semi final qualification following day two of the week-long regatta in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
Single sculler Sanita Puspure stole the show in her event to win the Wx1 in the fastest time across her category. She qualified directly for the semi-finals in a time of 07:25.780, 14 seconds ahead of Denmark’s Fie-Udby Erichsen who took second place. The Irish sculler was also eight seconds faster than reigning World Champion, Jeannine Gmelin of Switzerland who won her heat in a time of 07:33.830 to qualify. Sanita will race against Gmelin and other medal contenders, Kara Kohler of the USA and Canada’s Carling Zeeman in the A/B semi-final later this week while Austria’s Magdalena Lobnig must race again in the repechage to qualify.
Reigning World Champions in the lightweight men’s pair category, Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan, also impressed in the repechage of the heavyweight men’s pair this morning. They took second place behind Bulgaria to qualify for the quarterfinals of their first World Rowing Championships competing as heavyweights.
The Irish lightweight men’s quad of Andrew Goff (stroke), Jake McCarthy, Ryan Ballantine and Fintan McCarthy also performed well to take third place in their heat which allowed only the winning boat to qualify directly for the A Final. They now go through to the repechage for a second chance to reach the final. However their time of 05:53.430 was the fourth fastest across the heats by less than 0.1 of a second so there’s no telling where the crew of young athletes, who are all aged under 23, could end up at this their first senior World Championships.
The Irish Women’s double of Aileen Crowley and Monika Dukarska took sixth place in their heat and also go through to the repechages. The Irish women had a strong start and were in third position at 500m. However the race allowed only the top two boats from each heat to qualify for the A/B semi-final and the Irish crew who were in fifth position at the half-way mark, held back as a battle took place for the qualifying positions between Canada, the Netherlands and China who finished in that order.
Three Irish boats - women’s pair (W2-) Emily Hegarty and Aifric Keogh; lightweight men’s double (LM2x) Gary and Paul O’Donovan; and women’s single scull (Wx1) Sanita Puspure - have now secured places in semi-finals of the this year’s World Rowing Championships while the men’s pair of Shane O’Driscoll and Mark O’Donovan are through to the quarterfinals.
LM4x - (l to r) Fintan McCarthy (bow), Ryan Ballantine, Jake McCarthy and Andrew Goff (stroke)
Single sculler Sanita Puspure
