Fintan McCarthy and Philip Doyle eased into the double sculls semi-finals at the World Rowing Championships in Shanghai.
Double Olympic gold medallist McCarthy and Doyle, a bronze medallist from Paris alongside Daire Lynch, secured a direct route by winning their heat.
The newly formed crew looked in control from the off, leading from the start with Italy taking second place.
The winning time was the slowest of the heats, with Olympic champions Romania serving notice with the quickest time. Wednesday's semi-final takes place at 4.11am Irish time.
Fiona Murtagh recovered well from a sluggish start to reel in Esther Zamorano of Spain to win her heat in the single sculls and advance to the semi-finals (5.42am on Friday).
Konan Pazzaia caught the eye with a second-place finish in his single sculls heat to progress to the quarter-finals. The Queens University student, who has two silver medals to his name in 2025 in the double alongside the aforementioned McCarthy, performed well on his own and will hope to be among the top-three in his heat on Wednesday (3.40am) to make it to the semi-finals.
With the repechage system no longer in place, Ireland women's double (Zoe Hyde and Mags Cremen) and four (Natalie Long, Emma Waters, Aisling Hayes and Imogen Magner) did not make it through.
Watch the World Rowing Championships from Thursday to Sunday at 7am on RTÉ Player
