Nathan Timoney and Ross Corrigan from Enniskillen are set to row first in the men’s duo race. They will be competing against current world champions, Great Britain as well as the New Zealand team that has recently switched from an eight to pair, coming off their Tokyo gold medal win and subsequent bronze in Poznan’s World Cup.
The Romanian team, having alternated between four, eight, and pair over previous seasons, have now firmly established themselves in the pair category. They earned the silver medal in this year’s European Championships. Meanwhile, Fiona Murtagh and Aifric Keogh are keeping an eye on the top-seeded Australian and Lithuanian teams in the semi-final for women’s pairs. The Australians, who clinched the silver in the 2023 World Cup, have made a podium finish in both World Cups they’ve participated in this year. The Lithuanians, despite not making the podium this season, have clocked a speedy time in their Sunday heat.
Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy, current Olympic Champions, will face-off with the Swiss double who narrowly beat them at the World Cup II in Varese. The Irish pair from Skibbereen tasted defeat for the first time in this Olympiad at World Cup II, bringing home bronze medals. Their performance in this race will test whether they’ve made progress through their recent weeks of training.
Up against the French team, who are renowned as the Tokyo Olympic silver medallists, and cheered on by the home crowd, Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey will have a challenging semi-final ahead. They also encounter the Romanian pair who are the reigning European Champions and bronze medal winners in the 2023 World Cup.
Good morning. Ireland is feeling jubilant following Daniel Wiffen’s exceptional win in the 800 metres last night, marking its first gold medal of the Olympic Games. Once again, I, John O’Sullivan, backed by Overnight Oats, delightful berry yoghurt – a dependable dietary intention, not solely oriented towards Olympics – and a cup of strong black coffee, will be your guide for the activities in Paris and Marseille throughout the day.
Facing the most challenging matches of their careers are Ireland’s badminton representatives, Nhat Nguyen and Olympic newcomer Rachael Darragh. Nguyen, a veteran of two Olympic games, has already been victorious against opponents from Israel and Nepal, but now he has a crucial final group stage encounter which will decide if he can advance to the quarter-finals, since only one player from the group can move forward.
Standing between Nguyen and the quarter-finals is Denmark’s current number two in the world and defending Olympic champion, Viktor Axelsen. The competitor who comes out victorious from this face-off will move on to the next round, the knockout stages.
Rachael Darragh, after a hair-raising debut losing to a Swiss competitor in a tightly contested three-game match, has an uphill struggle on her hands. Her encounter against Spanish seasoned player Carolina Marin, the former Olympic champion from Rio who has also been crowned world champion thrice and currently holds the fourth seeding in Paris, will be the deciding factor for her second and last group stage game.
Meanwhile, four Irish rowing teams grace the water this morning, each entering the semi-finals for their respective events. To proceed to the Olympic finals, they need to secure one of the top three positions in their categories.