IRISH LIGHTWEIGHT DOUBLE Sculls duo Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy have today secured their place at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo by virtue of their winning today’s World Championship semi-final in Austria.
The pair finished in a time of 6:13.460, ahead of Germany and Norway to book both an Olympic berth and a place in the ‘A’ final, which takes place on Saturday, at 12.54pm.
O’Donovan and McCarthy are the first Irish crew to qualify for next year’s Olympics.
Elsewhere, Aileen Crowley and Monika Dukarska finished third in their semi-final; a top-two finish would have secured their Olympic qualification along with a place in the A final. They instead drop into the B final, where a top five finish will ensure Olympic qualification.
Ireland’s women’s four team of Tara Hanlon, Eimear Lambe, Aifric Keogh and Emily Hegarty came close to qualifying – they finished fourth in a semi-final that rewarded the top three with a slot at Tokyo. They will qualify for the games if the finish either first or second in the B final.
Gary O’Donovan, meanwhile, finished sixth in his semi-final in the lightweight single sculls. Lydia Heaphy also crossed the line in the same position at the end of her lightweight single semi-final.
This article was amended to correct the time and date given for the Lightweight Double Skulls final.
Penny pinching by English Rugby union only 20 players should be 30/40. Shows how mean they are.
@Michael Dunne: can you pick the 30/40 now that they will play the next world cup?, Thats why its 20, plus clubs are better compensated per player. At £32million per year for the next four years, its hardly penny pinching, in fact in an increase on the £28m per year they were playing, don’t forgot they give each club a fee for have x number of EQ players permatch day squad, and acamady targets etc, on top of the 20 players.
@Michael Dunne: Remind me how the number of Central Contracts evolved in Ireland
Steve Borthwick my arse! I see Conor O’Shea’s fingerprints all over this. It could just put English rugby on to a sustainable trajectory, otherwise they become a feeder league for the Top 14.