PAUL O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy laid down an early marker in the lightweight men's double with a dominant heat win in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The Skibbereen combination was the class act in heat two and once they hit the front in the second quarter of the race, the result was never in doubt.

The reigning World and European champions led Poland by just over a second at the halfway mark, and the West Cork men stretched that lead in the second half of the race to win comfortably in the end, in 6:23.74, well ahead of the Czech Republic in second (6:28.10). The top two go straight into the A/B semi-final while the rest - Poland, Ukraine, Indonesia and Uruguay - go into the repechage.

Never in doubt as Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy powered to a win in their heat of the lightweight men's double. They move on to the A/B semi-final. ? pic.twitter.com/efzCPWSiNK

— Kieran McCarthy (@KieranMcC_SS) July 24, 2021

This was an encouraging start from Paul and Fintan who now progress to an A/B semi-final in the early hours of Tuesday morning, time to be confirmed.