DEFENDING WORLD ROWING champions Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy cruised through to the lightweight men’s double sculls quarter-finals in Belgrade on Sunday morning.
O’Donovan and McCarthy, seeking a hat-trick of world titles to add to their wins in 2019 and 2022, won their heat with more than four seconds to spare.
With clear water between them and their rivals, and qualification comfortably secured, the Skibbereen duo won in 6:15.40 — the fourth-fastest time across Sunday morning’s five heats.
New Zealand were second in 6:19.65 with Ukraine (6:27.67) and Estonia (6:30.98) also progressing straight through to the quarter-finals.
Earlier on Sunday, their Skibb clubmate Jake McCarthy was forced to settle for a place in the repechage of the lightweight men’s single sculls.
McCarthy finished fifth in his heat in a time of 7:09.73, and will be back on the water on Monday afternoon to see if he can earn a place in the quarter-finals at the second time of asking.
Siobhán McCrohan booked her place in the A/B semi-finals of the lightweight women’s single sculls as she finished second in her heat (7:39.53).
Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney comfortably progressed to the quarter-finals of the men’s pair as heat runners-up (6:21.04), as did Daire Lynch and Philip Doyle who also finished second in their heat in the men’s double sculls (6:12.77).
