FIONA MURTAGH HAS qualified for the women’s single sculls final as she bids to defend her title at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam.
Rowing out of lane one, the Galwegian came with a superb late charge to win her semi-final in 7:24.68.
Ireland's Fiona Murtagh is safely through to the final of the women's single sculls at the World Rowing Championships after a strong performance in Amsterdam #RTEsportpic.twitter.com/1Q1H3yp8xD
She appeared under pressure when fourth at the 500m mark and crossing halfway just inside the qualifying positions in third.
At that stage, Murtagh was four seconds adrift of leader Jovana Arsic, but she kept ramping up her stroke rate to pass Switzerland’s Aurelia-Maxima Janzen before bursting past the Serbian sculler before the line.
She won by a convincing 1.57 seconds in the end. It was the third-fastest semi-final time following the runaway victory for Britain’s Lauren Henry in the first semi-final.
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It sets up a rematch of their classic 2025 world final, where Murtagh pipped Henry in a photo finish.
Fresh off her women’s double sculls gold medal, Mags Cremen was back in the water to begin her defence of the mixed double sculls title.
Due to the risk of “unfair” weather conditions forecast, the heats were switched to a time trial format.
This time Cremen was rowing alongside Konan Pazzaia, rather than Fintan McCarthy, who joined her for last year’s triumph.
They won their time trial heat in 6:38.64, advancing to the semis as the second-fastest qualifiers behind the Dutch hosts, who were represented by Simon van Dorp and Roos de Jong.
McCarthy instead rowed in the men’s single sculls, where he missed out on the A final, finishing fourth in his semi-final.
Making the step up from lightweight to the open-weight category, the Skibbereen sculler finished in 6:55.45, almost 10 seconds behind German winner Oliver Zeidler.
McCarthy was just under five seconds off the final qualifying place taken by Uruguay’s Bruno Cetraro Berriolo.
This morning, Ireland’s women’s four of Claire Feerick, Aisling Hayes, Emma Waters, and Emma Fagan won their B final to finish seventh overall.
Ireland's Claire Feerick, Aisling Hayes, Emma Waters and Emma Fagan have come 1st in the Women's Four B Final 👏🏼 This secures an overall 7th place for Ireland's women's four at the 2026 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam.
The quartet crossed the line in 6:26.34, which was 2.66 seconds ahead of the second-placed New Zealand crew.
In the women’s quad B final, the Irish boat of Izzy Clements, Sophia Young, Alison Bergin, and Emily Hegarty came home in third.
It's a 3rd place finish for Emily Hegarty, Sophia Young, Alison Bergin and Izzy Clements in the women's quad B final and an overall 8th place at the 2026 World Rowing Championships 👏 You can watch the World Rowing Championships live on the @rteplayer and @rte2 throughout the… pic.twitter.com/JlhOeKMjNb
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Fiona Murtagh wins semi to set up world final rematch; Fintan McCarthy misses out
LAST UPDATE | 2 hrs ago
FIONA MURTAGH HAS qualified for the women’s single sculls final as she bids to defend her title at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam.
Rowing out of lane one, the Galwegian came with a superb late charge to win her semi-final in 7:24.68.
She appeared under pressure when fourth at the 500m mark and crossing halfway just inside the qualifying positions in third.
At that stage, Murtagh was four seconds adrift of leader Jovana Arsic, but she kept ramping up her stroke rate to pass Switzerland’s Aurelia-Maxima Janzen before bursting past the Serbian sculler before the line.
She won by a convincing 1.57 seconds in the end. It was the third-fastest semi-final time following the runaway victory for Britain’s Lauren Henry in the first semi-final.
It sets up a rematch of their classic 2025 world final, where Murtagh pipped Henry in a photo finish.
Fresh off her women’s double sculls gold medal, Mags Cremen was back in the water to begin her defence of the mixed double sculls title.
Due to the risk of “unfair” weather conditions forecast, the heats were switched to a time trial format.
This time Cremen was rowing alongside Konan Pazzaia, rather than Fintan McCarthy, who joined her for last year’s triumph.
They won their time trial heat in 6:38.64, advancing to the semis as the second-fastest qualifiers behind the Dutch hosts, who were represented by Simon van Dorp and Roos de Jong.
McCarthy instead rowed in the men’s single sculls, where he missed out on the A final, finishing fourth in his semi-final.
Making the step up from lightweight to the open-weight category, the Skibbereen sculler finished in 6:55.45, almost 10 seconds behind German winner Oliver Zeidler.
McCarthy was just under five seconds off the final qualifying place taken by Uruguay’s Bruno Cetraro Berriolo.
This morning, Ireland’s women’s four of Claire Feerick, Aisling Hayes, Emma Waters, and Emma Fagan won their B final to finish seventh overall.
The quartet crossed the line in 6:26.34, which was 2.66 seconds ahead of the second-placed New Zealand crew.
In the women’s quad B final, the Irish boat of Izzy Clements, Sophia Young, Alison Bergin, and Emily Hegarty came home in third.
Their time of 6:18.56 was five seconds behind winners Switzerland, meaning a ninth-place overall finish.
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Fintan McCarthy Fiona Murtagh Rowing