O'Donovan brothers ease their way into European semis
Cork brothers Gary and Paul O'Donovan have booked their place in the lightweight Mens Double Sculls semi-finals at the European Rowing Championships.
The pair, two weeks after winning gold at the World Cup in Lucerne, easily overcame crews from France, Ukraine, Czech Republic and Switzerland to qualify for the A/B semi-finals on Saturday morning.
Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll also qualified for the A/B semi-finals in the men’s pairs.
Despite finishing fourth place in the first heat, the duo took second in the repechage to progress for Ireland.
The lightweight women’s double sculls, Denise Walsh and Aoife Casey, will also need a top-two finish in their repechage to progress to the A final after they produced a fourth-place finish in their heat today.
Their repechage is scheduled for 10am tomorrow morning.
Lightweight men’s double sculls: Heat 3: 1. IRL (G O’ Donovan, P O’Donovan) 06:27.990, 2. FRA 06:29.830, 3. UKR 06:33.630, 4. CZE 06:34.870, 5. SUI 06:36.040.
Men’s pairs: Heat 2: 1. BLR 06:37.380, 2. GBR 06:37.760, 3. NED 06:43.110, 4. IRL (M O’ Donovan, S O’ Driscoll) 06:48.940, 5. POL 06:52.250.
Men’s pairs, Repechage 1: 1. SRB 06:33.770, 2. IRL (M O’ Donovan, S O’ Driscoll) 06:35.740, 3. UKR 06:36.110, 4. AUT 06:38.800 5. HUN 06:52.800.
Lightweight women’s double sculls: Heat 2: 1. POL 07:08.540, 2. SUI 07:09.560, 3. ITA 07:10.110, 4. IRL (D Walsh, A Casey) 07:22.020, 5. AUT 07:27.250, 6. NOR 07:37.450.
