THE FIRST BOAT from Ireland has been secured for Paris 2024 after a stellar performance from Katie O’Brien and Steven McGowan in the PR2 mixed double at the World Rowing Championships in Belgrade.
It’s been 11 years since Ireland has had a crew compete in the Paralympics, but Galway RC rowers O’Brien and McGowan have ensured that Ireland will be represented again next year.
After not being able to find a double partner prior to the Tokyo Olympics, O’Brien has finally been able to make her dream a reality at this World Championships. Steven McGowan took up the sport less than two years ago and has made remarkable progress.
A strong start in their heat had them right in the mix with Poland. The 2022 World Champions, Ukraine, couldn’t hold the quick pace that was set and struggled to move into the top grouping. With only one crew to progress straight into the A Final and pick up that qualifying position for the 2024 Paralympics, O’Brien and McGowan had to make a move to put themselves in that leading spot. Through the third 500m Ireland were the fastest boat on the water and pushed their bow ahead of Poland. Winding up again coming into the finish, there was no catching O’Brien and McGowan and the ticket to Paris was theirs.
Up next was another Galway pairing of Fiona Murtagh and Aifric Keogh in the women’s pair repechage. They led by over two seconds by the first 500m mark. Italy’s made a push to catch them coming to the halfway mark but weren’t able to break their lead. With their first place finish Ireland are into the A/B Semis on Thursday morning. They’re now in the top 12 crews with 11 getting qualification spots for Paris 2024.
The men’s four of John Kearney, Jack Dorney, Adam Murphy and Fionnán McQuillan-Tolan missed out on the A/B Semis and will race the C Final after a fifth place finish in their repechage. They’ll have to settle for the C Final this Saturday.
Brian Colsh, Andrew Sheehan, Ronan Byrne and Konan Pazzaia were unlucky to miss the A/B Semi of the men’s quad with a fourth place finish in their repechage. As the race progressed Ireland made their way closer to the top three, and in the final 500m were the fastest boat on the water but it wasn’t enough to edge them ahead of the American crew.
All races will be live streamed on the World Rowing website here here.
Day three results
- PR2 Mixed Double Heat 1st -> A Final and Paralympic Qualification
- Women’s Pair Repechage 1st -> A/B Semi
- Men’s Four Repechage 5th -> C Final
- Men’s Quad Repechage 4th -> C Final
Wednesday schedule (IST)
- 11:43am – Lightweight Men’s Scull Quarterfinal
- 11:50am – Lightweight Men’s Double Quarterfinal
- 12:18pm – Men’s Pair Quarterfinal
- 12:53pm – Men’s Double Quarterfinal
