AOIFE Casey and Mags Cremen have qualified for the Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls final in dramatic fashion after an incredibly tight semi-final in Paris on Wednesday morning.
The pair finished third in the semi-final and cliched the last qualifying spot, knocking out the French – silver medallists in Tokyo – who finished in fourth.
Romania pulled away to win the race in a time of 6:56.55, but there was a close battle for the remaining two qualifying spots between Greece in second (6:57.90), the Irish in third (6:59.72) and the French (7:03.22)
At one point it looked like Casey and Cremen might be left behind, but they sprinted for the line from about 500m out and pulled away from the French in the end.
The pair needed a repechage to qualify for the semi-final following a third-place finish in their heat earlier this week, but came back in style to make it into the Olympic final.
It's been a great week for West Cork rowers so far, with Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy also qualifying for an Olympic final.
Roll on Friday!
Read more in this week's Southern Star – in shops and online Thursday, August 1st – as we build up to an exciting Olympic final on Friday!
