PAUL O’Donovan is feeling good at just the right time.
The two-time Olympic medallist could add a third Olympic medal to his collection when the Olympic and World champions race in the lightweight men’s double sculls A final on Friday morning (11.02am).
Paul and Fintan McCarthy showcased their dominance by winning their semi-final on Wednesday morning.
‘We felt good with the performance. The legs are feeling strong, I was feeling that way on camp on our training camp, we were moving the boat well and we had a lot of fatigue in the legs then, but freshening up a little bit now and starting to improve the technique a little bit since we’ve been here so we’re very much looking forward to Friday,’ O’Donovan said, before sharing his thoughts on the final.
‘I think it’ll be a tough race. Italy are fast starters, Greece are fast starters, the Swiss are fast off the start and they hold it a long way out.
‘The Czechs can go off very quick, you know, Norway quick off the start, quick sprint finish as well if they get going so I think it’ll really be kind of hang in there in the first 1000m for us, and once you’re in the pack then I think the race will kind of start again there, and people will start to make a move again, and hopefully we’ll be able to respond and take it up ourselves.’
McCarthy added: ‘It was just to feel good racing again and I don’t think we’ve been that sort of in with the pack as early on (in the season) as recent times so it was nice to kind of be back, and be back commanding races, and we’ll see how we get on, on Friday.’
