SILVER FOR JENNINGS IN LIGHT SINGLE AT ROWING WORLD CUP
HEAVY FOUR PROGRESS TO 'B' FINAL AT ROWING WORLD CUP
On the Malta lake in Poznan, Poland today Ireland’s Sinéad Jennings won silver in the non-Olympic lightweight women’s single sculls (LW1x) final in a closely contested affair. Derry’s Orlagh Duddy just missed out on the medals in the same final, finishing fourth. After a fifth place finish in their repechage earlier on, the Beijing bound men’s heavyweight four (M4-) will line up in tomorrow’s ‘B’ final for places seven to twelve at this regatta.
Jennings rowed impressively in the final, leading off the start right up until the last 200metres, when the Canadian sculler inside of the Donegal woman made a decisive challenge that saw her take gold from Jennings on the line, by just over half a second. Duddy started slowly and at 500metre mark was lying sixth. By the halfway point she had pushed into fifth. Duddy continued the charge and occupied fourth with 500metres to go but the Austrian sculler ahead of her had done enough to hang onto bronze as they crossed the line.
Afterwards Jennings spoke of the tough racing conditions today, and that frantic finish: “I would normally have quite a good sprint for the finish and I just really couldn’t get my rhythm in the last 500metres, then when the Canadian started coming back to me I found it really difficult to respond. I don’t know if that was because I just did too much earlier on in the race or that was the conditions.”
While Jennings acknowledged how good it was to be back in the medals in this boat, she pointed what will drive her challenge for this title at the non-Olympic world championships next month. “It’s really nice to be back on the podium, hopefully next time it’ll be in the middle! It’s a real motivator now, maybe if I’d won that I would have slacked off a little so it could be the best thing for me”, concluded Jennings.
In the Olympic boats the men’s heavyweight four (M4-) of James Wall, Alan Martin, Cormac Folan and Sean O’Neill finished fifth in their repechage this afternoon. Only the top two boats across the line; New Zealand and the Czech Republic won an ‘A’ final place. The Irish quartet will now line race in the ‘B’ final tomorrow morning for places seven to twelve at this the last regatta, before the Olympic regatta in Beijing.
A strong tailwind gusting down the course on the Malta lake this afternoon made racing conditions for the crews hard to handle, with the water particularly choppy and rough. The Irish heavy four were always going to be up against it with world champions New Zealand, the higher ranked Czech four who were silver medalists at the opening World Cup, and the Belarus quartet to contend with. They will be disappointed however not to have edged out the second string British four who raced well to take third.
The Irish foursome will race alongside the second British four, Belarus, Italy, Argentina and Egypt in tomorrow morning’s B final (9am Irish time), hoping for a finish in the top half of the field.
Earlier this afternoon Niamh NiCheilleachair finished fifth in the ‘B’ final of the non-Olympic lightweight women’s single (LW1x); an overall placing of eleventh at this regatta.
Ireland has qualified two boats for this summer’s Olympics; the men’s heavyweight four (M4-) racing this weekend, and the men’s lightweight four (LM4-) who secured their place. Crews for both boats will be finalised in the coming weeks. The 2008 Olympic regatta will be held at Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park on the side of the Chaobi river from August 9-17th.
Sinéad McElroy, Irish team press officer
*In the case of the men’s heavyweight four (M4-) this weekend the repechages are the second chance for the crews who do not automatically qualify through the heats to advance to the ‘A’ final.
Rowing World Cup 3, Poznan, Poland
Day 2, Sat June 21st, Irish results (Irish times quoted)
Olympic Boats
Men’s Heavyweight Four (M4-)
5th in repechage; into B final at 9am Sunday
James Wall (NUIG)
Alan Martin (NUIG)
Cormac Folan (NUIG)
Sean O’Neill (St.Michaels)
Non-Olympic Boats
Men’s Lightweight Single Sculls (LM1x)
Liam Molloy (NUIG); 3rd in C final; 15th overall
Dave Mannion (NUIG); won C final; 13th overall
Women’s Lightweight Single Sculls (LW1x)
Sinéad Jennings (St.Michaels); Silver in A final; 2nd overall
Orlagh Duddy (Belfast); 4th in A final; 4th overall
Niamh NiCheilleachair (Offaly); 5th in B final; 11th overall
Orla Hayes (Skibbereen); 3rd in C final; 15th overall
Key Dates
Rowing World Cup 3: Poznan, Poland 20th – 22nd June
Olympic Regatta: Beijing, China 9-17th August
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18-6-08 Lightweight Four qualify for Olympics
The Irish men’s lightweight four (LM4-) of Paul Griffin, Richard Archibald, Gearoid Towey and Cathal Moynihan has qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Men’s Lightweight Four qualify for Beijing Olympics
The Irish men’s lightweight four (LM4-) of Paul Griffin, Richard Archibald, Gearoid Towey and Cathal Moynihan has qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The Irish quartet put in an impressive performance in the final of the Olympic Qualifying regatta in Poznan, Poland, this morning to take second in the final, behind Germany. The first two boats across the line won Olympic qualification, and the Irish four had over two seconds to spare over the Serbians in third.
As they came off the water to collect their medals Cathal Moynihan said “It feels great! It’s been a dream of mine since I was twelve and we’re delighted we did the business. The pressure was immense; coming from ourselves really. We’ve put so much on the line just to make it to Beijing and now we can move on and focus on the Games, we’re delighted!”
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16-6-08 Irish lightweight four through to final
The top two boats across the line in that final on Wednesday will secure Olympic qualification
Irish lightweight four through to final at Olympic Qualifying Regatta
At the final Olympic qualifying regatta in Poznan, Poland this morning the Irish men's lightweight four (LM4-) of Paul Griffin, Richard Archibald, Gearoid Towey and Cathal Moynihan won their heat to advance directly to Wednesday's final. The top two boats across the line in that final on Wednesday will secure Olympic qualification.
As expected the Spanish four had the fastest start of the six boats in the heat. They went on to lead the field right up until about the 1750metre mark when the Irish quartet, who had been occupying a close second, drew level with them, ahead of the Serbian four in third. The Irish crew continued on to move through the Spanish with assurance, and took the win with just over second to spare crossing the line, with the Serbian four over three seconds back in third. South Africa came in fourth with Ukraine and Portugal taking fifth and sixth respectively.
There was no surprise in how the race played out, as Gearoid Towey explained: “We had a talk about it before we went out – how we thought the race was going to pan out and that’s exactly how it did work out. The only thing that was different was that we didn’t expect them (the Spanish) to hang on for so long. Probably with 250metres to I don’t think there was any doubt that we wouldn’t go through them.”
The German four impressively won the other heat of the lightweight four, with over six and a half seconds to spare on the Czechs, to also take the direct route to the final. In winning their heats the Irish and German fours benefit from a rest day tomorrow, while the remaining ten crews must race again in the repechages for just four places in Wednesday's final.
Looking forward to that final the Irish four have a clear approach; “Obviously Germany are the crew to beat for us here. Looking forward if we want to have any Olympic ambitions we know they’re our targets so we’re still going out to race them. We’re not going out just to target qualification; we want to go and race them”, explained Towey.
“It’s a good way to psychologically approach the final as well rather than racing negatively to not come outside the top two, and go and try and beat the Germans; they’ll be in the lane beside now in the final so that’ll be good”, added stroke man Paul Griffin.
The other two Irish boats competing at the qualifier; the heavyweight men's pair (M2-) of Sean Casey and Jonno Devlin, and the lightweight men's double (LM2x) of brothers Eugene and Richard Coakley will race in their respective semi-finals tomorrow morning (Tues). Both boats must finish inside the top three of those semi-finals to progress to Wednesday's finals, and keep their hopes of Olympic qualification alive.
The heavy pair (M2-) faces Italy, who won their strong heat yesterday, the Czech pair who finished two places clear of the Irish in Lucerne a fortnight ago and the Spanish, Russian and Egyptian pairs in their semi-final.
The lightweight men’s double (LM2x) of Eugene and Richard Coakley must contend with two heat winners in their semi-final in New Zealand, and Spain, as well as Slovenia, Portugal and Bulgaria for the three available places in Wednesday’s final.
After the qualifying regatta concludes on Wednesday (18th June) there will be a rest day before the final leg of the Rowing World Cup gets underway in Poznan. The heavyweight men’s four (M4-); the Irish boat already qualified for the Olympics will race at that regatta along with a number of additional Irish boats
Issued on behalf of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union by the Irish Sports Council
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Irish in Olympic qualifier semi -final
Irish boats advance directly to semi-finals at final Olympic Qualifying Regatta.
Rowing: Irish boats advance directly to semi-finals at final Olympic Qualifying Regatta
Both Irish boats in action on the opening day of the final Olympic Qualifying regatta in Poznan, Poland this morning; the heavyweight men’s pair (M2-) and the lightweight men’s double (LM2x) raced well to finish second in their respective heats and advance directly to Tuesday’s semi-finals. The men’s lightweight four (LM4-) do not start their regatta until tomorrow (Monday) morning when they line up in their heat.
The heavyweight men’s pair (M2-) of Sean Casey and Jonno Devlin was first out on the water for the Irish this morning. Two Olympic qualifying spots are up for decision in their boat class at this regatta. The Irish duo had the Canadian crew in their heat, who, after winning gold at the last World Cup in Lucerne are firm favourites to win one of the qualifying places.
As expected the Candians led from start to finish in the heat with Casey and Devlin stamping their authority on second place ahead of Hungary and Moldova in third and fourth respectively. The top three crews from each heat progressed directly to Tuesday’s semi-finals, which brings them the benefit of a rest day tomorrow, when those that missed out today must race in the repechages for a second shot at making the semi-finals.
After the race Jonno Devlin said: “It was a good row. The other two crews in the race weren’t really in it from the start, so we kind of settled onto something that was quite easy; there was no point in killing ourselves so it sets us up quite nicely for the semi-final.”
The lightweight men’s double (LM2x) of brothers; Eugene and Richard Coakley followed shortly after in their heat. There was good news for this lightweight double field; the biggest at this regatta with seventeen entries, as FISA (the international federation for Rowing) confirmed that the top three boats in Wednesday’s final will now qualify for Beijing, and not just the top two as originally planned.
The Irish double had a good row in this their first competitive outing together to finish second behind the Czech Republic in their heat, and book a direct semi-final place on Tuesday. Cathal Moynihan and Eugene Coakley switched seats earlier in the week with Moynihan moving into the lightweight four and Eugene taking his place in the double.
Irish lightweight coach John Holland was happy with how they fared: “Our plan for the race worked; to go for direct qualification for the semi-final and have the rest day tomorrow. We had a very good push around the 750metre mark; we stamped our authority on second place before the 1000metre point and that was it. They had a good row, they had a good performance. I’m quite pleased.”
The men’s lightweight four (LM4-) of Paul Griffin, Richard Archibald, Gearoid Towey and Cathal Moynihan are the only Irish boat in action tomorrow. In their morning heat they face Serbia, Spain, South Africa, Ukraine and Portugal with only the winner to progress directly to the A final on Wednesday. The remaining crews will advance to repechages on Tuesday.
After the qualifying regatta concludes on Wednesday (18th June) there will be a rest day before the final leg of the Rowing World Cup gets underway in Poznan. The heavyweight men’s four (M4-); the Irish boat already qualified for the Olympics will race at that regatta along with a number of additional Irish boats.
Issued on behalf of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union by the Irish Sports Council
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12-6-08Final Olympic qualifying regatta
An Irish rowing team of three boats will race in the final Olympic qualifying regatta, in Poznan, Poland beginning on Sunday next (15th June) in a bid to qualify for this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing. Irish Rowing team for final Olympic qualifying regatta announced
An Irish rowing team of three boats will race in the final Olympic qualifying regatta, in Poznan, Poland beginning on Sunday next (15th June) in a bid to qualify for this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing.
The lightweight men’s four (LM4-) of Paul Griffin, Richard Archibald, Gearoid Towey and Cathal Moynihan, the lightweight men’s double (LM2x) of Eugene and Richard Coakley, and the heavyweight men’s pair (M2-) of Sean Casey and Jonno Devlin all face the tall order of having to finish inside the top two in their respective classes, if they are to secure a starting berth in Beijing. The majority of Olympic qualifying spots were won at the World Championships last year.
The men’s lightweight four (LM4-) sees one change from the crew that raced a fortnight ago at the last World Cup in Lucerne. In a change based on form Killarney’s Cathal Moynihan comes into the bow seat for Eugene Coakley, who moves into the lightweight double alongside his younger brother Richard. Twelve crews are entered for the lightweight four with just two qualifying spots available. The Irish quartet raced well at the previous two World Cup regattas in Lucerne and Munich with Germany the only other non qualified boat finishing ahead of them on both occasions. However, the Serbian, Spanish, Greek and Czech crews are all set to be right up there when the places are decided in the final, on Wednesday.
The men’s heavyweight pair (M2-) of Sean Casey and Jonno Devlin placed ninth at the last World Cup regatta in Lucerne a fortnight ago; an improvement of ten places for this new combination on their first outing in Munich. There are thirteen crews entered in their boat class for just two qualifying spots. However, in finishing ninth a fortnight ago the Irish pairing were fourth of those non qualified boats racing. The non qualified Canadian pair actually won gold in Lucerne, so it is a field filled with quality crews.
The lightweight men’s double (LM2x) of Eugene and Richard Coakley face into the biggest field in Poznan; there are seventeen crews competing for just two Olympic qualifying spots. As a new unit this Irish double will face a stiff challenge to qualify for Beijing.
After the qualifying regatta concludes on Wednesday (18th June) there will be a rest day before the final leg of the Rowing World Cup gets underway in Poznan. The heavyweight men’s four (M4-); the Irish boat already qualified for the Olympics will race at that regatta along with a number of additional Irish boats.
Issued on behalf of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union by the Irish Sports Council
For competition schedule, live results and commentary visit www.worldrowing.com
Irish team for Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta
Poznan, Poland June 15th – 18th
M2- Heavyweight Men’s Pair
Sean Casey (Muckross)
Jonno Devlin (Oxford Brookes BC)
LM4- Lightweight Men’s Four
Paul Griffin (Muckross)
Richard Archibald (Lady Victoria BC)
Gearoid Towey (Fermoy)
Cathal Moynihan (Neptune)
LM2x Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls
Eugene Coakley (Skibbereen)
Richard Coakley (Skibbereen)
Key Dates
Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta: Poznan, Poland 15th-18th June
Rowing World Cup 3: Poznan, Poland 20th – 22nd June
Olympic Regatta: Beijing, China 9-17th August
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6-6-08World Cup in Lucerne. lightweight four finish sixth
The Irish lightweight four (LM4-) of Paul Griffin, Richard Archibald, Gearoid Towey, and Eugene Coakley finished sixth in today's final at the Rowing
Irish lightweight four finish sixth in Rowing World Cup final
Men’s heavy pair and heavy four finish ninth and tenth respectively
The Irish lightweight four (LM4-) of Paul Griffin, Richard Archibald, Gearoid Towey, and Eugene Coakley finished sixth in today's final at the Rowing World Cup in Lucerne. This Irish boat is targeting Olympic qualification, at the final Olympic qualifying regatta in Poland beginning June 15th.
Earlier today the heavyweight men’s pair (M2-) of Sean Casey and Jonno Devlin; who are also chasing Olympic qualification in Poland in two weeks time, produced a positive performance to finish third in their B final; ninth overall.
The heavyweight men’s four (M4-) of Alan Martin, Cormac Folan, Sean O'Neill, and James Wall also raced well in their B final, with a fourth place finish; tenth overall at this World Cup. This Irish boat has already qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games but the crew will not be finalised until late June.
In the lightweight four final, the race pace was blistering with 2006 World Champions China taking gold ahead of Denmark and France, in silver and bronze respectively. In this fiercely contested final Germany took fourth, with last year's World Champions Great Britain in fifth, just ahead of the Irish four. The next outing for this Irish four is the final Olympic qualifying regatta in Poznan, Poland in a fortnight, where they will be racing for one of the two Olympic qualifying spots on offer.
Afterwards Eugene Coakley assessed their performance and spoke of the impending qualifying regatta: “It didn’t go as well as it had for the semi-final; we seemed to lack a little energy that we had yesterday, we were a bit physically flat. Just down the middle of the body of the race it kind of got away from us, and we never really got back into contact with the rest of the field. We have two weeks now before Poznan. We had a brilliant race in the semi-final yesterday, so we’re really positive about that, we just have to go to Poznan and do the business.”
The heavyweight men’s pair (M2-) of Sean Casey and Jonno Devlin was first of the Irish out on the water this morning. This duo, still a relatively new combination, in only their second World Cup together recorded their strongest performance yet to take third place in their B final. This represents an overall placing of ninth at this World Cup; a significant improvement of ten places on their first competitive outing at the Munich World Cup three weeks ago.
Afterwards, Sean Casey assessed their performance; “It was a much better race than yesterday. We had a much better race throughout the whole two kilometres. The middle thousand still needs some work; we just need to work on the tempo through there, but it was a much more solid race.”
Casey and Devlin, like the lightweight four, are attempting to qualify this boat for the Beijing Olympics. They will get their chance at the final Olympic qualifying regatta in Poland beginning June 15th. However, the pair is one of the most competitive boat classes and with only two spots available in Poland it’s going to be a massive challenge. The Canadian pair who have not yet qualified won gold today, and the Chinese, who were fifth in today’s final have not yet qualified. The non qualified Czech crew won today’s B final, and the non qualified Italian and Swiss crews who performed impressively in Munich decided against competing this weekend, in anticipation of the qualifier.
Casey is well aware of the test they face in Poland: “We’ve got two more weeks now before the Olympic qualifier; it’s obviously going to be fairly tough there, with only two qualifying spots left. The Canadians just won the A final quite well and they’re going to be looking to qualify as well, there will be seven or eight crews there altogether looking to qualify. We’re heading in the right direction, and we’ve got two weeks now to get it right, so that’s the goal.”
The heavyweight men’s four (M4-) of Alan Martin, Cormac Folan, Sean O’Neill and James Wall raced shortly after the pair in their B final on the scenic Rotsee lake. The Irish four, which is already assured of a starting berth in Beijing, after securing qualification at last year’s World Championships, was looking to improve on yesterday’s performance, which saw them take sixth in their semi-final.
Fifth at the halfway point the Irish quartet pushed in, found more and moved into fourth place. As they approached the line they advanced on Canada occupying third position with every stroke but the line came too soon and the Irish just missed out on pipping Canada by 0.24 of a second. The German four won the race narrowly ahead of the British crew. It was a positive performance for the Irish four, and their best of the weekend.
“We definitely put together a better race today in our B final today. We put more of our training from our camp over the last three weeks into our race today, which is a positive step. It’s not as good as we can go, but we’re pleased and we’ve made huge progress over the weekend, which is very important”, remarked the bowman of the Irish boat James Wall as they came off the water.
The men’s lightweight double (LM2x) of Cathal Moynihan and Richard Coakley finished third in their C final yesterday; an overall placing at this regatta of 15th, which represents an improvement of ten places on the last World Cup in Munich.
The Irish team now moves onto a training camp before the final Olympic qualifier in Poznan, Poland which begins on June 15th, and for the already qualified heavyweight four (M4-); the final leg of the World Cup, also in Poznan.
The overall World Cup champions are determined after a series of three regattas (Munich, Lucerne, and Poznan, Poland from June 20th – 22nd) with the initial focus this year on the final Olympic qualifying regatta in Poznan, Poland from 15th-18th June where the last few Olympic spots will be decided. The 2008 Olympic regatta will be held at Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park on the side of the Chaobi river from August 9-17th.
Issued on behalf of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union by the Irish Sports Council
Overall Results for Irish team
World Cup Cup II, Lucerne, Switzerland, May 30th June 1st
M2- Heavyweight Men’s Pair
3rd in B final; 9th overall
Sean Casey (Muckross)
Jonno Devlin (Oxford Brookes BC)
M4- Heavyweight Men’s Four
4th in B final; 10th overall
Alan Martin (NUIG)
Cormac Folan (NUIG)
Sean O’Neill (St. Michael’s)
James Wall (NUIG)
LM4- Lightweight Men’s Four
6th in A final; 6th overall
Paul Griffin (Muckross)
Richard Archibald (Lady Victoria BC)
Gearoid Towey (Fermoy)
Eugene Coakley (Skibbereen)
LM2x Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls
3rd in C final; 15th overall
Cathal Moynihan (Neptune)
Richard Coakley (Skibbereen)
Key Dates
Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta: Poznan, Poland 15th-18th June
Rowing World Cup 3: Poznan, Poland 20th – 22nd June
Olympic Regatta: Beijing, China 9-17th August
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31-5-08 latest from Lucerne, Lightweight four make the final.
Lightweight four advance to Rowing World Cup final
On semi-final day at the Rowing World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland, the men’s lightweight four (LM4-) fared best of the Irish in action, finishing third in their semi-finals to advance to tomorrow’s A final. The men’s heavyweight pair (M2-) and the men’s heavyweight four (M4-) both finished sixth in their respective semi-finals to progress to tomorrow’s B finals for places seven to twelve. The lightweight men’s double (LM2x) finished third in the C final; an overall placing of fifteenth at this regatta.
The heavens opened on the Rotsee lake this afternoon and, for a time a headwind came into play, but the worst of the weather had abated by the time the lightweight four took to the water. Lining up alongside the Irish quartet for three ‘A’ final places were world champions Great Britain, world silver medalists France, crews that finished fourth and seventh at last year’s world championships respectively; Canada and Australia, as well as another boat not yet qualified for the Olympics; the Swiss, on their home territory.
In the semi-final the British and Australians led out the field with the Irish four, the French and the other two crews close behind. With 500metres of this thrilling encounter to go, at the head of the pack world champions Great Britain were narrowly leading the Australians, with the Irish four having moved into third ahead of the French. It was all change by the time the crews reached the line, with the French, in typical style, having made a big push to take the top spot a mere 0.05 of a second ahead of Great Britain who headed the Irish four by 0.63 of a second. The Irish boat had over a second to spare over the Australians at the line, with Switzerland fifth and Canada sixth.
Ireland’s stroke man Paul Griffin spoke of their race plan: “We said last night that our first thousand wasn’t good, after the heat, so we said we’d spend a bit more energy in the first thousand, and try and replicate the second thousand we had yesterday.”
“We still feel there are one or two phases that aren’t good, the first 250m today wasn’t good; it isn’t great yet but it’s incremental, we’re definitely getting there. We were definitely much better than yesterday as everything showed; the result and times”, he continued.
In tomorrow's final Ireland will face Denmark, China, France, Germany and Great Britain.
Looking to that final Griffin said: “Training has been going really well, and we are delighted with it, delighted that we’ve put it all together today. Of course tomorrow is another day again and we’ll have to replicate again, and improve again so that’s going to be a big test, so every race is a test really.”
In their semi-final the men’s heavyweight four (M4-); the Irish boat already qualified for Beijing, needed a top three finish to progress to tomorrow’s A final. Heat winners Australia, bronze medalists at last year’s world championships; the Dutch four, and one of the two German crews were favoured to progress. With the Australians and the Dutch leading the way, the Irish quartet of Alan Martin, Cormac Folan, Sean O’Neill and James Wall were consistently occupying fourth up until the halfway point, when the second string German crew made a decisive push that saw the Irish slip back to sixth behind Argentina, where they finished. They will contest tomorrow’s B final for places seven to twelve.
The men’s heavyweight pair (M2-) of Sean Casey and Jonno Devlin faced into a semi-final packed full of top class crews including world number two; New Zealand, number four; France, and yesterday’s heat winners; Canada. Only the top three crews progressed to the A final, and for this Irish pairing; still a relatively new combination, achieving one of those places was going to be a tall order. Racing during the worst of the rain and wind, they didn’t manage to find their rhythm throughout the 2000metre test, and finished in sixth to progress to tomorrow’s B final for places seven to twelve.
The men’s lightweight double (LM2x) of Cathal Moynihan and Richard Coakley were first of the Irish out on the water in their C final (places 13-18) this morning. The duo recovered from a poor start to put in a strong performance over the second half of the race to cross the line in third; an overall placing at this regatta of 15th, which represents an improvement of ten places on the last World Cup in Munich.
Issued on behalf of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union by the Irish Sports Council
30-5-08 Three Irish boats advance to semi-finals at Lucerne Rowing World CupThree Irish boats advance to semi-finals at Lucerne Rowing World Cup
All four Irish boats were in action today (May 30th) at the second leg of the Rowing World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland, and a series of good performances saw three of them advance to tomorrow’s semi-finals.
The men’s lightweight four (LM4-) of Paul Griffin, Richard Archibald, Gearoid Towey and Eugene Coakley fared the best of the Irish in the morning heats, finishing second to 2006 world champions China to advance directly tomorrow’s semi-finals.
It was a good performance from the four showing progress on the last regatta in Munich, even though the race didn’t go quite to plan, as Gearoid Towey explained; “Our race plan didn’t go as well as we had wanted to; we wanted to be up there right at the beginning but we were quite strong at the end so that was good. We have to put it together the way we want tomorrow though, because the semi-final is going to be this pace from the word go, so we have use the strength we have in the second half tomorrow again, but we have to put it in, in the first half also. It’s always easier to push on when you’re at the front of the pack rather than pushing into it; the races are too competitive for that.”
The other three Irish boats all contested the evening repechages for a second chance to advance to Saturday's semi-finals, after they missed out on the handful of direct semi-final places on offer in this morning’s heats.
The men’s heavyweight pair (M2-) of Sean Casey and Jonno Devlin were first out in the repechages for the Irish, and needed to be in the top two to see semi-final action. The duo raced well, with a strong last quarter in particular, to cross the line in second place behind China, holding off a strong British charge over the final strokes to book their semi-final spot.
Afterwards Jonno Devlin said: “This morning we’d drawn the New Zealand pair and we knew they were going to be a fast pair, we said to be sensible about it with only one to go through (directly to the semi-finals) there’s no point in killing ourselves so it gave us a good platform to work off for the race this evening. We had a good start in the repechage; Sean was stroking the boat really well which made it an easy job just for me to back him up. We came into the last 500metres and just changed gear so we just had a really good solid performance so it’s given us great confidence for the semi-final tomorrow.”
The heavyweight men’s four (M4-); the Irish boat already assured of a starting berth in Beijing, faced a tough morning heat featuring several of the world’s leading crews in which only the top three boats progressed to the semi-finals. The Irish crew of Alan Martin, Cormac Folan, Sean O’Neill and James Wall, placed fifth in that heat leaving them contesting an evening repechage of four crews, with the top three to go to the semi-finals. However, owing to the withdrawal of the Czech four from the repechage due to illness the race was cancelled sending the three crews directly to the semi-finals tomorrow.
The men’s lightweight double (LM2x) of Cathal Moynihan and Richard Coakley faced a fiercely competitive repechage which included the reigning world champions; Denmark, and world number four Australia, with only the top two crews to progress to the semi finals. Unsurprisingly, the Australian and Danish crews took the semi-finals spots with the Irish double in fourth behind Austria, which sees them progress to a C final tomorrow. With a final placing of 25th at the last World Cup in Munich a C final placing (places 13-18) will see the duo improve considerably on that mark.
Issued on behalf of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union by the Irish Sports Council
For competition schedule, live results and commentary visit www.worldrowing.com
Results for day 1 (Friday 30th) and schedule for day 2 (Sat 31st)
World Cup II, Lucerne, Switzerland, May 30th – June 1st
M4- Heavyweight Men’s Four
5th in heat, into semi-final @ approx 2.14pm
Alan Martin (NUIG)
Cormac Folan (NUIG)
Sean O’Neill (St. Michael’s)
James Wall (NUIG)
M2- Heavyweight Men’s Pair
2nd in repechage, into semi-final @ approx 1.26pm
Sean Casey (Muckross)
Jonno Devlin
LM4- Lightweight Men’s Four
2nd in heat, into semi-final @ approx 3.02pm
Paul Griffin (Muckross)
Richard Archibald (Lady Victoria BC)
Gearoid Towey (Fermoy)
Eugene Coakley (Skibbereen)
LM2x Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls
4th in repechage, into C final (places 13-18) @ 10.30am
Cathal Moynihan (Neptune)
Richard Coakley (Skibbereen)
Key Dates
Rowing World Cup 2: Lucerne, Switzerland 30th May – 1st June
Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta: Poznan, Poland 15th-18th June
Rowing World Cup 3: Poznan, Poland 20th – 22nd June
Olympic Regatta: Beijing, China 9-17th August
Irish lightweight four advance to semi-final at Lucerne Rowing World Cup .Irish lightweight four advance to semi-final at Lucerne Rowing World Cup
All four Irish boats were in action in this morning’s heats at the second leg of the Rowing World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland. The men’s lightweight four (LM4-) of Paul Griffin, Richard Archibald, Gearoid Towey and Eugene Coakley fared the best of the Irish finishing second in their heat to 2006 world champions China, to advance directly to tomorrow’s semi-finals.
The lightweight men’s double (LM2x) of Cathal Moynihan and Richard Coakley, the heavyweight men’s four (M4-) of Alan Martin, Cormac Folan, Sean O’Neill and James Wall, and the heavyweight men’s pair (M2-) of Sean Casey and Jonno Devlin must all compete in this evening's repechages for a second chance to advance to tomorrow’s semi-finals, after they missed out on the handful of direct semi-final places on offer in the morning heats.
Please note: Full report following repechages this evening.
For more information:
Live race tracker on www.worldrowing.com
Schedule of racing for Irish team (All times quoted are Irish times)
Heavyweight Men’s Pair (M2-) repechage @ approx 4.12pm today
Heavyweight Men’s Four (M4-) repechage @ 4.24pm today
Lightweight Men’s Double (LM2x) repechage @ approx 4.48pm today
Lightweight Men’s Four (LM4-) semi-final @ 3.02pm Saturday May 31st
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12-5-2008 IRISH MEN’S LIGHTWEIGHT FOUR FINISH FIFTH AT ROWING WORLD CUP
In the final of the opening Rowing World Cup of the season in Munich today (11th May) the Irish men's lightweight four (LM4-) of Paul Griffin, Richard Archibald, Gearoid Towey and Eugene Coakley finished fifth.
In the final of the opening Rowing World Cup of the season in Munich today (11th May) the Irish men's lightweight four (LM4-) of Paul Griffin, Richard Archibald, Gearoid Towey and Eugene Coakley finished fifth. The other Irish crew in action; the heavyweight men's four (M4-) of Alan Martin, Cormac Folan, Sean O'Neill and James Wall finished fourth in their B final to take tenth place overall at this regatta.
With the strong headwind blowing across the course, the organisers again took the decision to seed crews for this afternoon’s races. This gave the best performers in yesterday’s semi-finals the more favourable lanes, which offered some shelter on the stand side of the course approaching the finish.
The Irish lightweight quartet who failed to qualify for the Beijing Olympics at last year’s world championships have regained some of the form they showed in 2006, at this regatta, satisfyingly returning to A final action. In today’s A final two other non qualified boats were racing alongside the Irish; Germany and Serbia. The Germans showed excellent form to take the bronze medal behind 2007 and 2006 world champions; Great Britain and China, in silver and gold respectively. However, notably in finishing fifth the Irish were nine seconds ahead of the sixth place Serbians.
On assessing their regatta Richard Archibald said “We’ve used this as a learning experience; we had an okay heat, being honest a pretty ropey semi-final and then today. I think we thought about it, and we experimented and we came out of it with a good row today. I think with the conditions still unfair we put in a good performance, and put ourselves in a good position.”
With the bowman in the heavyweight four (M4-) James Wall having a three week injury enforced break leading into this regatta, preparation for this four wasn’t ideal as stroke man Alan Martin pointed to in his assessment of their regatta;
“We didn’t have a great race today. We just got into this combination a few days ago and you can see we tend to pay the price for that as the regatta goes on with a lack of togetherness, and just time in the boat together. We’ve a couple of weeks now before the next regatta in Lucerne and hopefully we’ll get an improvement with that time together”, he said.
The other five Irish crews in action all concluded their participation at this World Cup yesterday by racing in the minor finals for placings (details below).The next leg of the Rowing World Cup gets underway on 30th May in Switzerland, with the final Olympic Qualifying regatta from June 15th - 18th in Poland.
Issued on behalf of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union by the Irish Sports Council
Additional Information:
For race times and live results visit www.worldrowing.com
Results for Irish team at Rowing World Cup 1 – Munich, Germany
M4- Heavyweight Men’s Four, 4th in B final; 10th overall
Alan Martin (NUIG)
Cormac Folan (NUIG)
Sean O’Neill (St. Michael’s)
James Wall (NUIG)
LM4- Lightweight Men’s Four, 5th in A final, 5th overall
Paul Griffin (Muckross)
Richard Archibald (Lady Victoria BC)
Gearoid Towey (Fermoy)
Eugene Coakley (Skibbereen)
LM2x Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls, won final E; 25th overall
Cathal Moynihan (Neptune)
Richard Coakley (Skibbereen)
M1x Heavyweight Men’s Single Sculls, 6th in final D; 24th overall
Sean Jacob (Commercial)
M2- Heavyweight Men’s Pair, won final D, 19th overall
Sean Casey (Muckross)
Jonno Devlin
W2x Heavyweight Women’s Double Sculls, 2nd final D, 20th overall
Sinéad Jennings (St. Michael’s)
Caroline Ryan (Garda)
LW2x Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls, 6th in C final, 18th overall
Niamh NiCheilleachair (Castleconnell)
Orlagh Duddy (Belfast)
Richard Archibald (Lady Victoria BC)
Gearoid Towey (Fermoy)
Eugene Coakley (Skibbereen)
Key Dates
Rowing World Cup 2: Lucerne, Switzerland 30th May – 1st June
Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta: Poznan, Poland 15th-18th June
Rowing World Cup 3: Poznan, Poland 20th – 22nd June
Olympic Regatta: Beijing, China 9-17th August
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11-5-08 IRISH LIGHTWEIGHT FOUR ADVANCE TO ROWING WORLD CUP FINAL
The Irish men’s lightweight four (LM4-) of Paul Griffin, Richard Archibald, Gearoid Towey and Eugene Coakley booked a place in tomorrow’s final of the opening Rowing World Cup in Munich by finishing second in today’s semi-final.
The Irish men’s lightweight four (LM4-) of Paul Griffin, Richard Archibald, Gearoid Towey and Eugene Coakley booked a place in tomorrow’s final of the opening Rowing World Cup in Munich by finishing second in today’s semi-final. The heavyweight men’s four of Alan Martin, Cormac Folan, Sean O'Neill and James Wall missed out on a place in their final with a fourth place finish in their semi-final; only the top three made the final.
With the significant headwind that had been blowing across the course for the past few days at its strongest today, the organisers took the decision to seed crews for this afternoon’s races. This gave the heat winners and top crews the more favourable lanes, which offered some shelter on the stand side of the course, over the last quarter of each of the races.
The Irish quartet; in lane five of six on the stand side followed leaders Germany, on their home course, to the halfway mark ahead of Denmark, Italy, Serbia and the second string Chinese crew. Despite a determined push from the Serbians over the second 1000metres which saw them move from fifth to a close third, the Irish maintained their second place to book a starting berth in tomorrow’s A final.
Afterwards Eugene Coakley said: “We made hard work of it, but we’re happy we’re in the A final tomorrow afternoon. It was good to get the opportunity to test ourselves against the other non qualified crews (for the Olympics). We have a few technical things we’re going to look at as to why the Serbians came close at the end, and hopefully be better tomorrow.”
A top three finish was necessary for an A final place for the heavyweight four (M4-) of Alan Martin, Cormac Folan, Sean O’Neill and James Wall but the Irish quartet missed out crossing the line in fourth to progress to tomorrow’s B final, which will decide places seven to twelve at this regatta. This Irish boat is assured of a place at the Beijing Games, with crew yet to be decided, but the quartet were unhappy how they fared in this semi-final.
“We didn’t have a good race today; we didn’t play to our strengths and we didn’t have a good race overall. We’re going to go out and try and put a good performance together tomorrow in the B final”, said Cormac Folan afterwards.
The Irish men’s lightweight double (LM2x) of Cathal Moynihan and Richard Coakley, and the men’s heavyweight pair (M2-) of Sean Casey and Jonno Devlin made the best of their final races at this regatta winning their minor finals, finishing twenty-fifth and nineteenth respectively.
Heavyweight single sculler (M1x) Sean Jacob did not perform close to his best at this regatta coming in sixth in his D final; an overall placing of twenty four.
The lightweight women’s double (LW2x) of Niamh NiCheilleachair and Orlagh Duddy did not find form in Munich either taking sixth in the C final; a placing of eighteenth overall.
The women’s heavyweight double (W2x) finished their first regatta at this level together in twentieth place overall coming in behind their only other competitor; the Danish double in their D final.
Issued on behalf of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union by the Irish Sports Council
Additional Information:
For race times and live results visit www.worldrowing.com
Sat 10th May Irish Results
LM2x Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls, won final E; 25th overall
Cathal Moynihan (Neptune)
Richard Coakley (Skibbereen)
M1x Heavyweight Men’s Single Sculls, 6th in final D; 24th overall
Sean Jacob (Commercial)
M2- Heavyweight Men’s Pair, won final D, 19th overall
Sean Casey (Muckross)
Jonno Devlin
W2x Heavyweight Women’s Double Sculls, 2nd final D, 20th overall
Sinéad Jennings (St. Michael’s)
Caroline Ryan (Garda)
LW2x Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls, 6th in C final, 18th overall
Niamh NiCheilleachair (Castleconnell)
Orlagh Duddy (Belfast)
M4- Heavyweight Men’s Four, 4th in semi-final
Alan Martin (NUIG)
Cormac Folan (NUIG)
Sean O’Neill (St. Michael’s)
James Wall (NUIG)
LM4- Lightweight Men’s Four, 2nd in semi-final
Paul Griffin (Muckross)
Richard Archibald (Lady Victoria BC)
Gearoid Towey (Fermoy)
Eugene Coakley (Skibbereen)
Sun 11th May Schedule
M4- Heavyweight Men’s Four, B final (places 7-12) @ 8.12am Irish time
Alan Martin (NUIG)
Cormac Folan (NUIG)
Sean O’Neill (St. Michael’s)
James Wall (NUIG)
LM4- Lightweight Men’s Four, A final (places 1-6) @ 12.54pm Irish time
Paul Griffin (Muckross)
Richard Archibald (Lady Victoria BC)
Gearoid Towey (Fermoy)
Eugene Coakley (Skibbereen)
Key Dates
Rowing World Cup 2: Lucerne, Switzerland 30th May – 1st June
Final Olympic Qualifying Regatta: Poznan, Poland 15th-18th June
Rowing World Cup 3: Poznan, Poland 20th – 22nd June
Olympic Regatta: Beijing, China 9-17th August
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8-5-08 SEVEN IRISH BOATS IN ACTION ON OPENING DAY
No less than seven Irish boats were in action on the opening day of the Rowing World Cup in Munich today (8th May) with two of them advancing directly to the semi-finals and all bar one of the remaining five progressing to tomorrow’s repechages* where they will have a second chance to secure a spot in Saturday’s semi-finals.
The men’s heavyweight four (M4-); the Irish boat already assured of a starting berth in Beijing were first to book their semi-final spot taking third in their heat behind the Czech Republic and Italy. The four of Alan Martin, Cormac Folan, Sean O’Neill and James Wall, which sees one change from the crew that qualified the boat for the Olympics, with Wall coming in for Sean Casey, can be satisfied with this performance considering Wall has only returned from a three week injury enforced break.
The lightweight men’s four (LM4-) of Paul Griffin, Richard Archibald, Gearoid Towey and Eugene Coakley followed up with a strong performance in their heat to take second behind China and progress directly to Saturday’s semi-finals.
After the race Richard Archibald commented: “We had a bit of a cross head wind so it wasn’t a particularly fair course and we had the poor lane exposed on the outside so I think we’re very pleased then with the result.”
“Its small steps with Olympic qualification as our current goal before anything bigger than that, so in that context, today has been a very positive step forward”, he concluded.
The newly formed men’s heavyweight pair (M2-) of Sean Casey and Jonno Devlin had a positive opening performance at this level together coming in second in their heat behind Denmark to advance to tomorrow’s repechages.
Afterwards Jonno Devlin reflected on the race; “Overall it’s been a good start, it’s a tough headwind out there and I think we handled it quite well. There one or two things we can improve on but it’s a really good first race to get under the belt.”
Dubliner Sean Casey was the first of the Irish out on the water this morning in the heats of the men’s heavyweight single sculls (M1x) but was not at his best finishing fourth to advance to the repechages.
The women’s heavyweight double scull (W2x) of Caroline Ryan and Sinéad Jennings rowed a strong opening 1000metres in their heat but faded over the second half of the 2000metre test to take fourth in their heat also advancing to tomorrow’s repechages.
The women’s lightweight double (LW2x) of Niamh NiCheilleachair and Orlagh Duddy were fifth in their heat but will have to show improvement in the repechage tomorrow if they are to make the cut for the semi-finals.
There was disappointment for the men’s lightweight double (LM2x) of Cathal Moynihan and Richard Coakley. There were thirty-four entries in their category with only twenty four to progress to the quarter-finals and with a fifth place finish in their heat the Irish double missed the cut and will race in the E final on Saturday for placings.
*The repechages are the second chance for the crews who do not automatically qualify through the heats to advance to the semi-finals.
Issued on behalf of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union by the Irish Sports Council
Additional Information:
For competition draw, race times and live results visit www.worldrowing.com
