Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy remain on course for back-to-back Olympic gold medals after they stormed to victory in their men's lightweight double sculls semi-final.
It was a great morning for the Irish at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey also made it through to the women's lightweight final, and Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney will contest the medal race in the men's pair, for an unprecedented four Olympic A finals in rowing.
After hitting the front some 350 metres in, O'Donovan and McCarthy were never in danger thereafter.
At halfway, the pair had a half-a-boat advantage and pulled further clear of Switzerland in the third quarter, with that lead extending to a one-length lead with 500 to go.
The winning time was 6:21.88 - the fastest across both semi-finals - with the Swiss coming home in second and Czechia pipping France to take third and the remaining berth in Friday's final.
The Irish pair will go into that as favourites, despite playing down their chances after their win in the heats, and O'Donovan was in a similarly mischievous mood after their semi-final victory.
"That was a big, big upset so it was," the 30-year-old told RTÉ Sport.
"The Swiss are number-two ranked, way above us, fastest time of the heat so we're happy to be able to put out that performance.
"All year we've been throwing the kitchen sink at them and couldn't get ahead of them. They've had an answer to us every single time we've raced this year, but not today and we're hoping Friday we'll be able to produce the goods again."
McCarthy believes the pair are hitting their peak at the right time.
"We're feeling strong, looking strong," he said. "We had a record today, the shortest time ever we've spent on the water for a race, so we're always improving.
"Conditions play a good part in the times, but I think it was a bit quicker than the other semi."
Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey (above), who took bronze in the lightweight double sculls at the 2022 World Championships, got ahead of the fast-starting Greece boat to settle third after 500m but, in a race where positions changed with regularity, the Irish were relegated to fourth at halfway.
With Romania and Greece pulling away at the head of affairs, it was a race between Ireland and France for the remaining spot in the medal race, also on Friday.
And with the Irish producing a 39 stroke-rate entering the final 200 metres, they went on to gain the upper hand and reach a first Olympic A final.
"We're super delighted," Casey said. "We were only thinking about each 500 metre, breaking down the race, and we knew we wanted to be in the running come the last 500, and just dug really deep. It came out on our side this time around.
"We were really excited to just leave everything on the water today and we did. Delighted to rest up now and see what we can produce in the A final on Friday."
And Cremen says their qualification is extra special, after they missed out on a place in the medal race three years ago.
"We wanted it so badly, we were watching the Olympic final from the grandstand in Tokyo, because were were in the B final, and we said we wanted to be in that final next time around.
"It's an unbelievable feeling to have secured that and to look forward to that on Friday. It’s just unbelievable, delighted," Cremen told RTÉ Sport.
Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney (watch below) held on to take third place in their semi-final and a spot in the A final of the men's pair.
After edging world champions Switzerland to progress to the semis, the Fermanagh duo just held off New Zealand and will now race in Friday's final.
Romania and Great Britain took first and second respectively.
It was the Romanians who edged in front early, but Corrigan and Timoney soon found their rhythm and hit the front just after 350 metres. However, Romania and GB were also close by, with the latter pair edging past the Irish with 700 to go.
While Corrigan and Timoney were rowing with a consistent rhythm, their stroke-rate started to drop in the last 100-150 metres, down to 34, but the pair had enough in reserve to progress in a time of 6:32.22.
Speaking after the race Timoney said it was like a replica of their World Championship final last year, where they finished third.
"We know the Romanians go out hard, GB have a good middle rhythm and the Kiwis also went out hard in the first heat.
"So, I think we knew the best approach was to do what we did last year, and it paid off for us.
"Coming through the second half we were certainly suffering for it. We held the head and it came through for us.
Corrigan said that the pair had to dig deep to get over the line.
"We had a flier there and we were tough. Like it was a tight race but that's what we want.
"Coming off about 500m in the TV launch swerve into the lane so we definitely knew we were up.
"We were wondering if we were going to be suffering but we just dug deep and kept kicking on, it was great craic.
With their own opportunity to win a medal on Friday, Corrigan admitted they are taking inspiration from Daniel Wiffen’s gold medal triumph in the 800m freestyle last night.
"I don’t think Wiffo knows how much of an inspiration he is to the team," Corrigan said.
"We watched the race last night before bed and no different to Phil the night before watching Mona we were wired going to bed.
"He’s great craic and to see him win the gold really spurs everyone else on. It’s savage to be part of Team Ireland and it’s kicking off."
In the women's pair semi-final, Aifric Keogh and Fiona Murtagh finished sixth in a time of 7:32.97.
The race was won impressively by Australia, with USA and Lithuania taking the other places in the final.
Keogh and Murtagh will now contest the B final.
