BY KIERAN McCARTHY
PAUL O’Donovan mixed it with the heavyweights at the European Rowing Championships – and showed he can hold his own.
The original plan for the Europeans was for Olympic and World champions O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy to race in their familiar men’s lightweight double as preparations for the Olympics in Paris crank up, but that was scuppered when McCarthy had to pull out as he recovers from illness.
Instead, it was Plan B and it saw O’Donovan step up to the heavyweight single scull for the first time. He took it in his stride. Given that lightweight rowing will be scrapped from the Olympic schedule after Paris, this was also an opportunity for O’Donovan to rub shoulders with the heavyweights, and he grabbed the chance with both hands.
On day one of the Europeans in Hungary he finished third in his heat, which sent him into the repechage on Friday. There, and unsurprisingly, the two-time Olympic medallist produced the goods to win his second race by almost five seconds, which qualified him for Saturday’s A/B semi-finals – a top three finish here would guarantee the Skibb man a spot in the A final where medals are up for grabs.
There was drama before the race when five-time world champion O’Donovan capsized, and it delayed the start, but back in the boat he showed his pre-race dip had no ill effects and he was fourth at the halfway stage. With 500 metres to go, he slipped to fifth and stayed here until the finish.
Next up was the B final on Sunday, and O’Donovan moved up through the field; from fourth at 500 metres to third by the halfway stage, he was second with 500 to go, and held this to the finish line in 7:31.55, less than two seconds behind Romanian sculler Mihai Chiruta. It’s an eighth place overall finish for O’Donovan, who is set to return to the lightweight double with McCarthy in World Cup II in Lucerne this month (May 24th to 26th), as they target more success at the Olympics in Paris.
Elsewhere, Jake McCarthy, the older twin brother of Fintan, competed in the men's lightweight single, and caught the eye when he won his heat to go directly into the A final; he finished three and a half seconds ahead of Hungary home favourite Peter Galambos. McCarthy has endured his injury troubles in recent years, so this was an encouraging outing for the Skibb rower who went on to finish sixth in the A final. A slow start meant he was always playing catch-up, though he briefly moved into fifth with 500 metres to go.
While Skibb’s Aoife Casey also missed out on the Europeans due to illness, her lightweight double partner Margaret Cremen took the chance to show her class when she won a superb silver medal in the women’s lightweight single on Sunday. Casey and Cremen have qualified the Irish women’s lightweight double for Paris.
