Orla Duddy has qualified for the final in the lightweight single sculls at the opening World Cup regatta in Austria.
Duddy was the only Irish rower to make it into Sunday’s A finals, as Ireland’s other two lightweight crews; the women’s double and men’s four suffered set-backs both finishing sixth in their respective semi-finals.
The men’s heavyweight four were unlucky, narrowly losing out on a place in the A final by finishing fourth in their semi-final.
The lightweight four (LM4-) failed to mount a challenge in their semi-final which featured the world champions China. With a change in the boat the foursome were not anticipated to be the force they were at this point last year, and are still testing out for the best crew combination. They will contest the B final first thing in the morning.
The men’s heavyweight four (M4-) of Alan Martin, Sean Casey, Cormac Folan, and Sean O’Neill failed by the narrowest of margins to qualify for the A final when they were pipped on the line for third place in their semi-final by a thundering finish from reigning world silver medallists, Germany.
The French and Czech Republic crews took the other two A final spots on offer finishing first and second respectively. The Irish quartet advance to the B final tomorrow where they will have high hopes of finishing top of the pile.
Ireland’s top lightweight women (LW2x); Sinéad Jennings and Niamh NiCheilleachair were punished for a very poor start in their double sculls semi-final, which featured the world champions China, and a number of other leading crews.
Finishing sixth the Irish duo performed poorly and their challenge never really materialised. They contest tomorrow’s B final where they will be targeting a finish in the top half of the field.
Duddy’s male counterpart in the lightweight single (LM1x); Skibbereen’s Richard Coakley contested the C final, and finished in second place; a mere two tenths of a second down on the Austrian winner.
Single sculler Sean Jacob (M1x) will be particularly disappointed with a fifth place finish in the E final, while the men’s quad (M4x), also in their first senior international regatta together, placed fifth in the C final; seventeenth overall.
The overall World Cup champions are determined after a series of three regattas (Linz, Amsterdam in late June & Lucerne in July) with the centrepiece of the International season the World Championships in Munich beginning 26 August which, this year, is the main Olympic qualifying regatta with the majority of places on offer.
