Ireland’s tally of medals at the World Cup regatta in Lucerne rose to three with a fine performance by the double of Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch.
This crew had been racy right through the European Championships and at this regatta, but they were drawn in lane one and faced strong opposition and big names.
Croatia’s Valent and Martin Sinkovic are amongst the most celebrated stars of world rowing, but they found the Melvin Twellar and Stefan Broenink of the Netherlands just a little too good after a fine race. The battle for the bronze was fascinating. Spain, New Zealand, Ireland and Romania were all in the hunt. Lynch and Doyle proved the best: they were steady through the middle 1,000 metres and in the final quarter they pulled out the fastest final 500 metres – of the whole race – to make the podium.
The Ireland women’s four did not have similar closing speed. Australia, Britain and Romania pushed into a leading chevron, with the Netherlands just off this pace. Romania put together a strong final quarter, and took the gold ahead of the Australian and British crews. Ireland were within a good run of the medal spots most of the way down the course, but when the final sprints were launched they did not improve their position. They finished sixth, just behind New Zealand.
This crew had been racy right through the European Championships and at this regatta, but they were drawn in lane one and faced strong opposition and big names.
Croatia’s Valent and Martin Sinkovic are amongst the most celebrated stars of world rowing, but they found the Melvin Twellar and Stefan Broenink of the Netherlands just a little too good after a fine race. The battle for the bronze was fascinating. Spain, New Zealand, Ireland and Romania were all in the hunt. Lynch and Doyle proved the best: they were steady through the middle 1,000 metres and in the final quarter they pulled out the fastest final 500 metres – of the whole race – to make the podium.
The Ireland women’s four did not have similar closing speed. Australia, Britain and Romania pushed into a leading chevron, with the Netherlands just off this pace. Romania put together a strong final quarter, and took the gold ahead of the Australian and British crews. Ireland were within a good run of the medal spots most of the way down the course, but when the final sprints were launched they did not improve their position. They finished sixth, just behind New Zealand.