Ireland’s Sanita Puspure produced an excellent performance to win her heat and qualify for the semi-finals of the Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne in Switzerland on Sunday morning.
The Ireland single sculler led all the way down the course, holding off double Olympic gold medallist Ekaterina Karsten of Belarus.
An extra place has become available at the qualifers as an invitation place has not been taken up. Four women’s single scullers will qualify from Tuesday’s final.
Puspure missed out on qualification last September in the B Final of the Women's Single Sculls at the World Championship in France, coming fifth in a tight race won by Sweden's Anna Malvina Svennung.
But she will now gear up for another crack at booking her ticket to Rio after this morning's convincing heat success.
Olympic Qualification Regatta, Lucerne, Switzerland
Single Sculls – Heat 1 (First Three to A/B semi-final; rest to repechage): 1 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:38.55, 2 Belarus (E Karsten) 7:40.08, 3 Ukraine (N Dovgodko) 7:48.35; 4 Serbia 8:01.63, 5 Italy 8:03.08.
Heat 2: 1 Denmark (F Erichsen) 7:35.43, 2 Latvia (E Gulbe) 7:41.72, 3 Germany (J Richter) 7:42.23.
Heat 3: 1 New Zealand (E Twigg) 7:31.10, 2 Britain (M Hodgkins-Byrne) 7:39.01, 3 Russia (J Levina) 7:42.64.
