It was a luckless day for the four Irish boats in action on the second day of the opening Rowing World Cup regatta in Munich on Friday.
All four failed to make the cut for the semi-finals in their repechages, and will go on to compete for placings at this regatta in the minor finals on Saturday.
With a strong headwind again blowing across the course conditions were testing.
Sean Jacob opened the day for the Irish in the heavyweight single scull (M1x) where only the winner of each repechage would progress to the semi-finals. #
Dubliner Jacob finished third to progress to Saturday’s ‘D’ final for places 19 to 24.
The newly formed heavyweight men’s pair (M2-) of Sean Casey and Jonno Devlin followed, but failed to find their rhythm, and they were unable to make the necessary impact to progress, crossing the line in fifth. They will also contest the ‘D’ final of their event on Saturday.
Afterwards stroke man Sean Casey said: ‘Conditions were a bit heavier than yesterday with a strong head wind. We didn’t really seem to hit a rhythm in the middle of the race and we lost a little too much ground. The focus now for the next race will be really trying to work on that middle thousand and see where that takes us.’
Both Irish women’s boats were also in action. The heavyweight double (W2x) of Caroline Ryan and Sinéad Jennings needed to finish inside the top two in their repechage to advance to the semi-finals.
Despite a gutsy effort, they faded over the final quarter of the race and came home in sixth. They will race in Saturday’s D final.
The lightweight double (LW2x) of Niamh NiCheilleachair and Orlagh Duddy also needed a top two finish to see semi-final action. While the duo showed slight improvement on the heat performance they didn’t better third throughout the race and finished in fourth place. They contest the C final for places 13 to 18.
Both Ireland’s men’s fours; heavyweights (M4-) and lightweights (LM4-) are in semi-final action. In their semi-final the heavy four will face heat winners; the Czech Republic, the two German fours, who were both runners up in their respective heats, along with Greece and Croatia for three places in the final.
The light four face Germany; impressive heat winners, a fast Danish four, Serbia, Italy and the second string Chinese crew in their semi-final with the top three to book a place in Sunday’s final.
Ireland’s men’s lightweight double (LM2x) of Cathal Moynihan and Richard Coakley will be the first of the Irish on the water in the E final.
