Four Irish crews make it through to Lucerne finals

Rowing: Four of Ireland's six crews made it through to today's semi-finals at the final World Cup regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland yesterday, with the men's lightweight four and women's lightweight double going directly through from their heats.

The double of Sinéad Jennings and Niamh Ní Cheilleachair took the second qualifying spot in their heat behind Canada after pulling back from a dramatic first 500 metres after which they trailed eventual winners Canada by almost 10 seconds. Ireland team manager Mick O'Callaghan explained afterwards that one of Jennings' oars had come free of the gate which holds it and the crew had stopped dead.

The two Irishwomen were determined not to go to a repechage and gathered speed through the race to ensure direct access to today's semi-final.

The men's lightweight four also trailed at 500 metres in their heat, but only by .29 of a second to fast starters Britain. The Irish crew of Gearóid Towey, Eugene Coakley, Richard Archibald and Paul Griffin pushed on to win from Britain, who again challenged hard in the final quarter.

Ireland get their chance to take on world champions France in today's semi-final (3.21pm Irish-time), while Germany and South Africa will also hope to land a place in the top three.

Ireland's two other qualifiers yesterday for the semi-finals, the men's heavyweight four and Caroline Ryan in the women's single scull, showed plenty of spirit in their negotiation of their repechage route.

The newly-minted men's double scull of Sean Jacob and Con Collis predictably could not live with the pace of world record holders Jean-Baptiste Macquet and Adrien Hardy of France in their heat and finished fourth.

The two men from the Commercial club put up a good fight in the repechage but again finished fourth and will compete in today's C Final for places 13 to 18.

The men's lightweight double of Richard Coakley and Tim Harnedy are also bound for a C Final today after finishing fourth in their heat and third in their repechage.

"By the standards we are setting ourselves the two doubles being in C Finals is disappointing," said Mick O'Callaghan. "But we are setting high standards."