#Rowing: Seven Ireland crews have been chosen for the World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, from September 9^th to 16^th. There are four women’s crews, headed by Sanita Puspure in a single scull. Aifric Keogh and Emily Hegarty will compete in a pair and Monika Dukarska and Aileen Crowley in a double. The lightweight double of Aoife Casey and Denise Walsh, which competed at the European Championships, go forward.

 European silver medallists Paul and Gary O’Donovan will compete in Bulgaria, while there is a heavyweight double of Ronan Byrne and Philip Doyle, which will be competing together at this level for the first time. The heavyweight pair of Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll which finished 11^th at the European Championships will compete in Plovdiv.

 Another crew may be added to the team this week.

Ireland Team for World Rowing Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria, September 9^th to 16^th:

Men

Pair: M O’Donovan, S O’Driscoll

Double Sculls: Ronan Byrne, Philip Doyle

Lightweight Double Sculls: Gary O’Donovan, Paul O’Donovan

Women

Pair: Aifric Keogh, Emily Hegarty

Double Sculls: Monika Dukarska, Aileen Crowley

Lightweight Double Sculls: Aoife Casey, Denise Walsh

Single Sculls: Sanita Puspure

Other crews may be added

#Canoeing: Ronan Foley produced another promising result at the canoe sprint World Junior and Under-23 Championships in Plovdiv in Bulgaria. The Ireland paddler won the B Final of the junior men’s K1 500 metres. He had also won the B Final of the K1 1,000 metres. He placed 10^th overall in both K1 500 and K1 1,000.

Canoe Sprint Junior World Championships, Plovdiv, Bulgaria (Irish interest)

Men, K1 500m – B Final (Places 10 to 19): 1 Ireland (R Foley) 1 min 41.398 sec.

#Rowing: Monika Dukarska won her heat at the World Coastal Rowing Championships in Thonon in France this morning. She qualified for Saturday’s A Final of the Coastal Women’s Solo. Two other Ireland competitors, Jessica Lee of Killorglin and Jeanne O’Gorman of Arklow,  will compete in the B Final after placing 13^th and 16^th respectively.

 The women’s coxed quadruple from Castletownbere finished ninth in their heat and made the A Final, while Cairndhu and Courtmacsherry will compete in a B Final. They finished 12^th and 13^th in their heat.  

 The Galley Flash men’s double of David Duggan and Mark O’Brien finished 11^th in their heat and go to the B Final.

 Dukarska is the defending champion in the women’s solo.

World Coastal Rowing Championships, Thonon, France, Day One (Selected Results; Irish interest)

Men

Double – Heats (First Seven to A Final; 8 to 13 to B Final) Heat Two: 11 Galley Flash.

Single – Heats (First Seven to A Final; 8 to 13 to B Final): Heat One: 6 Castletownbere (A Sullivan-Greene), 7 Arklow (J Casey). Heat Two: 10 Galley Flash (B Hooper). Heat Three: 7 Bantry (A Hurley); 8 Arklow (A Goodison)

Women

Quadruple, Coxed – Heats (First 10 to A Final; rest to B Final) Heat One: 12 Cairndhu, 13 Courtmacsherry. Heat Two: 9 Castletownbere; 13 Galley Flash.

Double – Heats (First 10 to A Final; rest to B Final) Heat One : 14 Arklow

Solo – Heats (First 10 to A Final; rest to B Final) Heat One: 1 Killorglin (M Dukarska) 20 min 44.83 sec; 13 Killorglin (J Lee); 16 Arklow (J O’Gorman). Heat Two: 10 Arklow (S Healy); 16 Arklow (V Annesley).

#Rowing: Sanita Puspure finished fourth in the A Final of the women’s single sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Sarasota-Bradenton in Florida.

 Switzerland’s Jeannine Gmelin prospered in the difficult conditions, taking gold ahead of Victoria Thornley of Britain. Austria’s Magdalena Lobnig held off a late sprint by Puspure to take bronze. Puspure was just .35 of a second behind.

 The lanes had been redrawn because of wind, placing Puspure in lane four. She had been drawn in two, but the higher-numbered lanes were thought to have an advantage. Lobnig, who has shown herself to be a good performer in choppy water, survived a wobble in the middle of the race when her oar did not make proper contact with the water.

World Rowing Championships– Irish interest

Women

Single Sculls – A Final: 1 Switzerland (J Gmelin) 7:22.58, 2 Britain (V Thornley) 7:24.50, 3 Austria (M Lobnig) 7:26.56; 4 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:26.91, 5 Netherlands 7:32.69, 6 Canada 7:35.93.

#Rowing: Ireland’s Aifric Keogh and Aileen Crowley took second in the B Final of the women’s pairs at the World Rowing Championships in Sarasota-Bradenton in Florida, placing this new crew eighth in the world. Both Ireland and Italy had good starts and the race developed into a battle between the two. Ireland led with a quarter of the race left, but Italy upped the rate and passed them. Keogh and Crowley came back, but could not retake the lead.

 Enniskillen woman Holly Nixon stroked the British quadruple which took bronze behind the Netherlands and Poland.

World Rowing Championships, Day Seven – Irish interest

Women

Pair – B Final (Places seven to 11): 1 Italy 7:17.76, 2 Ireland (A Crowley, A Keogh) 7:19.89, 3 Serbia 7:23.75.

Quadruple – A Final: 1 Netherlands 6:16.72, 2 Poland 6:17.71, 3 Britain (4: H Nixon) 6:19.93.

#Rowing: Ireland’s lightweight pair of Mark O’Donovan and Shane O’Driscoll took a brilliant gold medal at the World Rowing Championships in Sarasota-Bradenton in Florida. They got a tough challenge from Italy and Brazil, but O’Donovan and O’Driscoll produced a stunning row, with a stroke rate of well into the 40s right through the race. They took over the lead at 750 metres and never gave it up, despite concerted challenges by, first, Brazil and then Italy, who took second, with the South Americans taking bronze.  

#Rowing: Sanita Puspure secured an A Final spot at the World Rowing Championships today. The Old Collegians sculler took a close-up second in her semi-final of the single sculls. Puspure produced an intelligent, gutsy performance. In a tight contest she moved at halfway to secure a place in the top three; after the 1500 metres mark she charged again, and was just three-hundredths of a second behind Jeannine Gmelin of Switzerland, who qualified in first. Behind them, Magdalena Lobnig of Austria just ousted Felice Mueller of the US for third.

World Rowing Championships, Sarasota-Bradenton, Day Six – Irish interest:

Women

Single Sculls – Semi-Final Two (First Three to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Switzerland (J Gmelin) 7:26.90, 2 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:26.93, 3 Austria (M Lobnig) 7:27.79; United States (F Mueller) 7:27.89.  

Semi-Final One: 1 Britain (V Thornley) 7:31.72, 2 Netherlands (L Scheenard) 7:34.09, 3 Canada (C Zeeman) 7:34.33.  

#Rowing: Sanita Puspure won her repechage to qualify for the A/B Semi-Finals of the women’s single sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Sarasota-Bradenton today. The Ireland sculler was out on her own for virtually the entire 2,000 metres. She had three lengths over Lucie Zabova of the Czech Republic in the middle of the race and extended it to four by the finish. Both qualified.

 In a major surprise Juan Dingli of China could only finish third in the second repechage and misses out on the chance of an A or B Final appearance.

 The Ireland women’s pair of Aifric Keogh and Aileen Crowley finished fourth in their repechage, and will compete in the B Final. They were up with the leaders in the first 500 metres, but Britain and then Germany moved away from them and took the qualification places for the A Final. In the third quarter, China passed Ireland and held on to third despite a good finish by Crowley and Keogh.   

World Rowing Championships, Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida – Day Four – Irish Interest:

Women

Pair – Repechage (First Two to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Britain 7:25.99, 2 Germany 7:3.34; 4 Ireland (A Keogh, A Crowley) 7:41.13.

Single Sculls – Repechage (First Two to A Final; rest to B Final): 1 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:36.16, 2 Czech Republic (L Zabova) 7:45.98.

#Rowing: The Ireland pair of Fionnán McQuillan-Tolan and Patrick Boomer finished fifth in their repechage today at the World Rowing Championships in Florida. They will compete in the C Final. The top three secured places in the A/B Semi-Finals. Serbia were impressive winners, taking over from Spain in the middle stages. These two held the top spots to the finish. Behind them the United States clung on to third.

 Ireland pushed fourth-placed Argentina hard in the third quarter, but it was the South Americans who finished best – they came close to ousting the United States and taking the crucial third spot. The host country held on by just .35 of a second.

World Rowing Championships, Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida – Day Three (Irish interest):

Men

Pair – Repechage (First Three to A/B Semi-Final; rest to C Final): 1 Serbia 6:38.05, 2 Spain 6:40.24, 3 United States 6:41.46; 5 Ireland (F McQuillan-Tolan, P Boomer) 6:47.01.

#Rowing: Sanita Puspure took second place in her heat of the women’s single sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Florida today. The in-form Jeannine Gmelin won the race, holding fast to her long-held lead despite a fast finish by Puspure.

Only the winner qualified directly for the A/B semi-finals, and Puspure must find her way though a repechage.

Aifric Keogh and Aileen Crowley took third in their heat of the women’s pair. The race was won by the United States, who booked their place in the A Final.

World Rowing Championships, Sarasota-Bradenton, Florida – Day Two (Irish interest):

Women

Pair – Heat Two (Winner to A Final; rest to Repechage): 1 United States 7:06.26; 5 Ireland (A Keogh, A Crowley) 7:29.53.

Single Sculls – Heat Four (Winner to A/B Semi-Finals; rest to Repechage): 1 Switzerland (J Gmelin) 7:26.22, 2 Ireland (S Puspure) 7:27.11.