The Ireland team has journeyed far in a decade and a half. At the Olympic Games in London in 2012, Ireland had one representative, single sculler Sanita Puspure. Medals at top events have become the norm and the men\u2019s double of Fintan McCarthy (who took gold at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024) and Phil Doyle (bronze in Paris) will both hope to end the 2025 season by adding to their stash.<\/p>\n
McCarthy\u2019s step up to openweight rowing, now that lightweight is no longer an Olympic discipline, has been successful. This season, the Skibbereen man has won a medal in the double at both the European Championships and the World Cup in Lucerne. However, both of those were with Konan Pazzaia. His partnership with Doyle, the Olympic medallist in Paris in the double, is new.<\/p>\n
When the crew line up in their heat at about 4am, Irish time, on Monday, it will be their first competitive outing. The call of medicine has ruled out Paul O\u2019Donovan and Daire Lynch. McCarthy has shown he can excel even without O\u2019Donovan, his partner in the lightweight double; can Doyle hit the heights without Lynch, his medal-winning partner in Paris?<\/p>\n
Reigning Olympic champions, Romania, and the big Polish crew will also be targeting gold. Italy and Switzerland, built around lightweights, will be in the mix. If the Irish hit form, they should be on the podium come Friday; it could be in the middle. Ireland\u2019s next best medal hope is Fiona Murtagh.<\/p>\n
The Galway woman has stepped into Puspure\u2019s shoes in the high-profile single scull. Lead coach Dominic Casey has been something of a magician with lightweight rowing. In a sweet irony, his most successful coup in his first season as the top man has been to steer the tall, rangy \u2013 and very much not lightweight \u2013 Murtagh away from sweep rowing. The Olympic medallist in the four at Tokyo 2020 is, at 30, a potent single sculler.<\/p>\n
She has been learning her trade, and has looked raw in some races, even as she has racked up silver medals at the Europeans and in Lucerne. This could be to her advantage. The raging hot favourite for gold, Britain\u2019s Lauren Henry, also new to the single, has been awesome. Murtagh will need to come on a lot to match the relatively small Henry. Both women can improve, but Murtagh might make a big step up.<\/p>\n
Casey\u2019s knack for improving crews means that hopes of surprise medals run right across the team. The women\u2019s pair of Emily Hegarty, a medallist in the four at Tokyo 2020, and Aoife Casey (a former lightweight) have never competed in this boat internationally \u2013 but the two Skibbereen women were mightily impressive for University of London this season.<\/p>\n
Siobh\u00e1n McCrohan\u2019s renaissance in the lightweight single brought her World Championship gold in 2023 and bronze last year. At 38, the heat and humidity of Shanghai could be a particular test. <\/p>\n
Nathan Timoney missed the season after a bike accident. Casey gave him time to recover, and he resumes his combination with Ross Corrigan. This is the pair that finished sixth in Paris.<\/p>\n
For Pazzaia, a stint in the men\u2019s single might seem a disappointment after success in the double. Again, there are reasons to see it differently. In the run-up to Paris, he competed in the single and showed real form.<\/p>\n
Though there is potential in both crews, the women\u2019s four and the men\u2019s quadruple look long shots, as does lightweight sculler Jake McCarthy; Zoe Hyde and Mags Cremen less so in the double, if they hit form. What a wonder it would be if the mixed double of Cremen and Fintan McCarthy, trying out a novel boat, also found the podium.<\/p>\n
And what must it be like to be Sadhbh N\u00ed Laoghaire? The para rower turned 19 last month, but will partner Tiarn\u00e1n O\u2019Donnell (27) in a new PR2 mixed double. Like the other rowers in the Irish team, they will be dreaming of a medal. The \u2018A\u2019 finals in Shanghai run from Thursday to Sunday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Ireland team has journeyed far in a decade and a half. At the Olympic Games in London…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,898,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-32180","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-latest-news-ticker","11":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}