{"id":609289,"date":"2026-08-30T14:06:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T14:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/609289\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T14:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T14:06:12","slug":"double-world-silver-success-for-ireland-in-amsterdam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/609289\/","title":{"rendered":"Double World silver success for Ireland in Amsterdam"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland claimed two silver medals on the final day of the World Rowing Championships, with Fiona Murtagh shining in the single sculls, and Mags Cremen returning to the podium alongside Konan Pazzaia in the mixed double sculls.<\/p>\n

On Friday Cremen and Zoe Hyde took gold in the women’s double sculls final<\/a>, and Team Ireland finished out the Championships in style with two more medals.<\/p>\n

Murtagh’s powerful closing 500m saw her reel in reigning Olympic champion Karolien Florijn of the Netherlands to finish second.<\/p>\n

Less than an hour later, Cremen and Pazzaia held of a strong challenge from the USA to take second behind the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

Last year Murtagh pipped Great Britain\u2019s Lauren Henry to victory in a photo finish in the single sculls, and while Henry exacted some revenge in claiming gold this time around, it was a titanic battle for silver with Murtagh coming up trumps.<\/p>\n

It adds to a strong body of work this season for Murtagh who won bronze at World Cup I in Seville and silver at World Cup III in Lucerne.<\/p>\n

Fiona Murtagh claims a silver medal at the women’s single sculls as Great Britain’s Lauren Henry powers to victory at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam pic.twitter.com\/X8nJ3TA2cq<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 RT\u00c9 Sport (@RTEsport) August 30, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

A strong field was illustrated by the fact that for the first time in the event\u2019s history, the race contained the reigning World (Murtagh), Olympic (Florijn) and European (Henry) champions.<\/p>\n

As the rain poured down, Murtagh found herself trailing in the early stages with Florijn setting the early pace.<\/p>\n

At the 500m mark she occupied sixth position from lane three, but settled into a rhythm and by the halfway stage was locked in a battle for third with Lithuania\u2019s Viktorija Senkute as Florijn and Henry extended their advantage at the front.<\/p>\n

Murtagh upped the gears in the final quarter and began to reel in Florijn in second as Henry powered for gold.<\/p>\n

It was stroke for stroke in the scrap for silver coming down the stretch, but she finished like a train to cross the line in a time of 07:18.04.<\/p>\n

Speaking after the race, Murtagh said given her recent injuries, she was delighted to be cometing at the business end of the competition.<\/p>\n

“I’m really happy and proud of how I have grown throughout this competition,” she told RT\u00c9 Sport.<\/p>\n

“I tried to downplay it (injuries) quite a bit, but it\u2019s really hard. I really want to be resilient, regardless of the challenges I faced I could grow from it.<\/p>\n

“Was it an ideal race? No, but I really liked the last 750m, I loved how I moved through that final sprint.”<\/p>\n

‘I’m really proud of how I’ve grown throughout this competition’ – An emotional Fiona Murtagh speaks to @DavidGillick<\/a> after taking a silver medal in the women’s single sculls after a difficult camp pic.twitter.com\/IDv2cuD9jg<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 RT\u00c9 Sport (@RTEsport) August 30, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

The high calibre of competition meant Murtagh, a Tokyo Games bronze medallist in the coxless four, was aware that getting on the podium is a significant achievement.<\/p>\n

“I knew they (Henry and Florijn) would go out hard and I knew I had to have a really good start, but it didn\u2019t really happen,” she said. “I got into my movements and I hit the 1km mark, and just like yesterday, I felt really good.<\/p>\n

“I took a swing over to my right and I could see Florijn wasn\u2019t out of sight. I knew I could do it. I just had to trust myself.<\/p>\n

“I could feel that I was gaining metres and could feel her boat coming to mine.”<\/p>\n

\"Mags
\nMags Cremen and Konan Pazzaia produced a fine performance in Amsterdam<\/p>\n

Cremen claimed the second of Ireland’s three medals at the Championships with a brilliant showing in the mixed double sculls final.<\/p>\n

Ireland were to defend the crown they won last year when Fintan McCarthy secured gold alongside Cremen<\/a>, but it was the Netherlands crew that claimed glory, with Pazzaia in the boat and Cremen occupying the stroke seat.<\/p>\n

Starting from lane one, the Irish crew took it out hard, though less than two seconds separated the first six crews at the 500m mark.<\/p>\n

The Irish, Netherlands and USA crews began to pull clear of the rest in testing conditions, with Roos de Jong and Simon van Dorp pushing the Dutch crew into the lead.<\/p>\n

Entering the final quarter of the race, Cremen and Pazzaia had less than a second advantage over the USA and in a sprint finish between the two boats, Ireland upped it to 44 strokes a minute to hold off the American challenge and cross the line in a time of 06:22.34.<\/p>\n

Fintan McCarthy finished fifth in the men’s single sculls B final.<\/p>\n

Competing in his first season as an openweight single sculler, the double Olympic champion made a strong push at the 1500m mark to briefly move into third, but had to settle for fifth with a time of 06:46.07, with Switzerland\u2019s Kai Schaetzle taking victory ahead of Romania\u2019s Mihai Chiruta.<\/p>\n

“I’m a bit disappointed with the outcome,” he said afterwards. “Yesterday took a lot out of me, I really gave it everything to make the final, so maybe I suffered today as a result. I still wouldn\u2019t do anything differently.<\/p>\n

“I believed I was going to win it, and I hung on until the end.<\/p>\n

“I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve felt like this at a regatta in a very long time. In a way it\u2019s a lot more motivating than maybe winning. It\u2019s good to see that the hunger is there and I really want to go and pick it apart, and see what we can do better, figure out some of the pitfalls from this week and year.”<\/p>\n