Ireland enjoyed medal success at the World Rowing Under-23 Championships in Poznan claiming two medals - gold and silver - to close the day in third place on the medals board with two more crews qualifying for A finals on Sunday.
The Irish crew of Shane Mulvaney and David O’Malley, both UCD athletes, took gold in the lightweight men’s pair following a blistering race that saw them complete the 2,000m course in a time of 06:54.480, two seconds ahead of Greece who took silver.
The Irish pair who won bronze in the same category last year, rowed an impressively solid, well-paced race that saw them stroke up the field incrementally from fourth place at 500m to take the lead at 1,500m and win gold and glory. Greece took silver and Italy, bronze.
Shortly afterwards, the Irish lightweight men’s quad won silver in a hotly contested race with Italy, who took the lead at the halfway mark to win, and USA, who the Irish battled the into third place.
The Irish boat of UCD’s Andrew Goff, Ryan Ballantine, Niall Beggan and Miles Taylor, had won bronze in the same event last year with Goff and Beggan on board.
This year’s crew will be thrilled to have fulfilled their game plan of going one better to win silver, after coming through the repechage following the heats to secure their place in the A Final.
Two further Irish boats secured their places in A finals on Sunday and have the potential to medal following the success of their semi-finals.
Twin brothers Jake and Fintan McCarthy, from Skibbereen, came second in their SF of the lightweight men’s double sculls, crossing the line just one second behind Spain.
Coached by Skibbereen’s Dominic Casey, the brothers will be happy with today’s result and the potential to medal after placing 8th in the same category last year.
UCC’s Ronan Byrne also secured his place in Sunday’s A final of the men’s single sculls after coming second in his semi-final event.
