IT’S BEEN YET another historic day for Irish and Skibbereen rowing with Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll claiming gold in the lightweight men’s pair at the World Cup in Poznan, Poland.
The European champions picked up where they left off in the Czech Republic last month, adding another gold to their collection this afternoon.
The Skibbereen duo put in a commanding performance in miserable conditions to claim the victory by more than a second, with British pair Joel Cassells and Sam Scrimgeour in second, followed by the Brazilian boat containing Xavier Vela Maggi and Willian Giaretton in third.
“It’s about time we’re winning. We’ve been training together for so many years,” Mark O’Donovan told the World Rowing website.
“The competition really came at us and we gave everything we could. Coming into the race, we respected everyone. There are lots of upcoming crews, we like to fear them so we don’t get complacent.”
It’s a second successive World Cup victory for O’Donovan and O’Driscoll after prevailing in Belgrade at the start of last month, and they can complete the set with success at the third and final World Cup event of the year in Lucerne, Switzerland in July.
Denise Walsh, another product of the Skibbereen Rowing Club who claimed a silver medal at the European championships three weeks ago, had to settle for sixth place in the final of the lightweight women’s single sculls today, which was won by Jackie Kiddle of New Zealand.
Olympic silver medallists Gary and Paul O’Donovan will race in the ‘A’ final of the lightweight men’s double sculls at 10.03am tomorrow on the back of their heat victory yesterday.
Sanita Puspure and Monika Dukarska will contest the ‘B’ final of the women’s single sculls tomorrow (10.10am) after claiming fourth-place finishes in their respective semis today.
Aifric Keogh and Aileen Crowley will also be in action tomorrow, in the women’s pair ‘B’ final at 9.30am, following a sixth-place finish in the repechage earlier today.
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