Paul O’Donovan and Siobhán McCrohan, both representing Ireland, are set to compete in the A finals of the senior lightweight single sculls contest at the World Championship in Canada. This global rowing competition is being held in St Catharines, Ontario and features a number of Olympian participants from the recently concluded Paris Games.
McCrohan from Galway, who was crowned champion at last year’s World Championships in Belgrade, secured her spot in the A/B semi-finals on Friday. She won her heat, beating her closest rival by five seconds earlier in the week. During her heat, she was pitted against Romania’s Ionela Livia Cozmiuc who surged forward in the race creating a 24-meter lead by the race mid-point. Despite this, McCrohan managed to keep her placings commanding a comfortable lead over France’s Aurelie Morizot. Eventually, she finished the race 8.48 seconds behind Cozmiuc, thus securing her position in the final round that will be held on Saturday.
The men’s lightweight semi-finals saw another dominant performance from Ireland, this time from Paul O’Donovan. A gold medallist at the Paris Olympics, O’Donovan led from the start, establishing a 2.6 second lead over Julian Schoeberl from Austria. O’Donovan further increased this lead, finishing 6.34 seconds ahead, thus booking his place in the A final.
Both O’Donovan and McCrohan will be competing in the final round on Saturday against not only the other qualifiers from the A finals but also qualifiers from the earlier semi-finals, including Antonios Papakonstantinou from Greece, Niels Torre from Italy and Samuel Melvin from the USA, among others.
O’Donovan clocked the quickest time of 6:47.74 across both semi-finals, outdoing the next nearest contender, Papakonstantinou, by more than two seconds. This secured the man from Skibbereen a spot in lane four for the final showdown. McCrohan is set to take her position in lane two, again tucked between Morizot and Cozmiuc. The rest of the competitors include Zoi Fitsiou from Greece, Kenia Lechuga Alanis from Mexico, and Lara Tiefenthaler from Austria. The lightweight women’s single sculls A final is set for 7.43pm Irish time on Saturday, with the men’s event following at 8pm.