The line up for Irish participation in successive events is as follows. Busy from 8.44am is Shane Lowry continuing the second round of golf. Not long after, at 9.54am Fiona Murtagh and Aifric Keogh compete in the coxless pair B final rowing event. A bit later, from 10.05am onward, Andrew Coscoran, Cathal Doyle, and Luke McCann will be participating in the first round heats of the 1,500m athletic event. At 10.14am, Ellen Walshe is booked to perform in the 200m IM heats swimming event. Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney will be taking part in the coxless pair A final rowing event at 10.30am.
At 11.02am, Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy compete in the lightweight double sculls rowing finals. Shortly after, at 11.06am, Rory McIlroy continues his golf second round. Eve McMahon will partake in Dinghy race three sailing event at 11.10am. Further Rowing lightweight double sculls finals action sees Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey at 11.22am. Moving on to the early hours of the morning, Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove compete in the Skiff medal sailing race at 12.13am, while Eve McMahon takes part in the Dinghy series four sailing event at 12.18am.
Later in the afternoon, at 1pm, the showjumping team final features Shane Sweetnam, Daniel Coyle, and Cian O’Connor. It’s a busy slot at 2.30pm as Finn Lynch is set to sail in the Dinghy race three event, Michaela Walsh takes on Svetlana Staneva in the Round of 16 57Kg boxing bout, and Liam Jegou and Noel Hendrick participate in the kayak cross canoe slalom.
At 3.28pm, Finn Lynch is back again for the Dinghy series four sailing event. Madison Corcoran has her own canoe slalom kayak cross at 3.30pm. Following this, at 4pm, Ireland faces New Zealand in men’s hockey. Lastly, at 5.10pm, Jodie McCann competes in the 5,000m heats athletic event.
This week has been filled with medals from Mona McSharry on Monday, Daniel Wiffen on Tuesday, Kellie Harrington on Wednesday, and Philip Doyle/Daire Lynch on Thursday. We are anticipating another fantastic Friday as we have participants in three rowing finals, Robert Dickson and Sean Waddilove in the rearranged skiff medal race, and our showjumping team reached the final.
The nerve-wracking start of the day will be with three rowing finals within an hour, beginning at 10.30 am. Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney from Enniskillen open the medal hunt in the pair final. The petite yet tenacious duo, Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy, are gearing up for a fight in the lightweight double sculls confrontation, followed by Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey in another lightweight double sculls finale.
Dickson and Waddilove, despite having difficulty reaching the top four – a prerequisite for a medal – might feel somewhat content that both trials to finish the skiff medal race had to be cancelled due to inadequate wind conditions. If things go well, they’ll attempt again on Friday, with the duo presently sitting in second place.
The showjumping team also has their focus set on a medal after qualifying for today’s team final as the sixth-best out of 20 competing nations. Daniel Coyle delivered an impressive clear round, whereas Shane Sweetnam incurred only four faults, and Cian O’Connor knocked down one hurdle plus recorded a time fault. As all finalists start with a zero score, the competition remains wide open.
On Wednesday, Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry had fluctuating performances during the inaugural round of the golf tournament. McIlroy scored a three-under-par 68, trailing the leader, Hideki Matsuyama, by five shots. Lowry, however, finished three strokes behind McIlroy with 71. Both will return on Friday morning for the second round.
Remember the events schedules at 6.10pm: 4 x 400m Mixed Relay (Athletics – heats) and subsequently at 7.10pm: Eric Favors (athletics – shot put qualifying round).
Our athletes are set to make their debut in Paris this Friday, with Andrew Coscoran, Cathal Doyle and Luke McCann participating in the morning 1,500m heats first. Later in the day, Jodie McCann will run in the 5,000m, our 4 x 400m mixed relay team and shot putter Eric Favors will also be in action.
One notable event will be Michaela Walsh stepping into the ring for her 57kg match. Hopefully, she’ll receive a fairer judgement than what Daina Moorehouse experienced on the previous Thursday evening.
Event to Look Out For: The premier track gold medal is set to be awarded tonight following the men’s 10,000m final. Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda, the current world record holder for this distance, is seen as the one to beat. However, he faces stiff competition from Selemon Barega of Ethiopia, who defeated him in Tokyo. Jacob Kiplimo, another athlete from Uganda, is also considered a strong contender.