WORLD CHAMPION PAUL O’Donovan and Irish team-mate Denise Walsh are through to their respective lightweight single sculls finals at the World Rowing Championships in Florida.
Defending champion O’Donovan, as is his wont, surged from fourth to first in the final 700 meters to finish four seconds clear of Switzerland’s Michael Schmid. The Cork man clocked a time of 6:55.30.
The 23-year-old Olympic silver medalist then caught up with RTÉ’s Evanne ní Chuillin from his ice bath.
Playing it cool - Paul O'Donovan speaks to @EvanneNiC live from an ice bath in Florida after comfortably winning his world semi-final pic.twitter.com/mCMfx6CoOI
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 28, 2017
His Skibbereen club-mate Denise Walsh, too, won her lightweight single sculls semi, finishing in 7:45.89.
Walsh (17:30) and O’Donovan (17:15) will bid for world glory in tomorrow’s finals, as too will their fellow Skibb rowers Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll, who will race the final of the men’s pair at five o’clock Irish time.
Sanita Puspure is also in action tomorrow: the women’s single sculls semi-final is at 16:15, while Fionnan McQuillan Tolan and Patrick Boomer race the men’s pair ‘C’ final at 18:50. Coverage of the day’s rowing begins on RTÉ 2 at 15:30.
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