Preparations may not have been perfect but the trust that has developed between Fintan McCarthy and Paul O'Donovan was key to their latest World Rowing Championship success, according to the pair.

Practice time on the water was less than usual ahead of the event in the Czech Republic, but it mattered little as they stormed through the field in the second half of the race to leave Italy in the silver medal position and Ukraine in third.

McCarthy said that their ability to still produce such a high-quality performance was down to their familiarity.

"We decided to come here without our usual preparation so I’m really proud with how we approached it," he told RTÉ Sport.

"Regardless of the medal, the trust we had in each other to prepare the way we did is going to stand to us for the next few years and it stood to us this year as well. I’m just really happy and proud."

"I think the trust in our coach and our programme as well, without that we wouldn’t have been as confident to come here without our usual time together," he added. "It was just a really good year for us really."

O’Donovan said that the race went as they had expected, and that also helped in making up the ground in any training they missed ahead of the lightweight men's double sculls.

The win was another gold star on the incredible rowing CV of O'Donovan who has now won five World Championship titles – something he described as "fine."

"We’d not a bad first 10, 15 strokes, it was good," he said.

"Italy like to go on hard after that and open a lead, and they did that. The Swiss tried to push on in the middle then and we kind of held their move through the rest of them and squeezed on a bit in the second half. Much like usual."

Paul O'Donovan now has five World Championship medals

The win was another gold star on the incredible rowing CV of O'Donovan who has now won five World Championship titles – something he described as "fine."

He added that despite the chat about the pair heading into the competition given their success in Tokyo, external pressures never really came into play.

"There’s no expectation or pressure really, I think that’s just something people talk about and we wouldn’t be too concerned about what people think."

As they completed their interview, the pair were joined by fellow Irish pair Aoife Casey and Margaret Cremen, who picked up bronze in the lightweight women's double sculls.

McCarthy paid tribute to their success on what was another brilliant day for Irish rowing.

"We train side by side every day and put in a huge amount of work, it’s really special."