The battle was against the conditions as much as the opposition and in the end Margaret Cremen won the silver medal in the lightweight women’s single on the final day of the European Rowing Championships in Szeged, Hungary.
The Cork rower switched to the single after her lightweight double’s partner Aoife Casey withdrew from the event last week due to illness, and Cremen made the absolute most of her opportunity, nailing second behind Alena Furman, the 32-year-old from Belarus competing under a neutral flag, who won another European title to sit alongside the two won before.
All six finalists faced into the stiff headwind, extra conscious of timing their effort, and Cremen got the ideal start, leading the way at 500m; Furman took over soon after and edged increasingly ahead, winning in 8:32.17, with Cremen a clear second in 8:42.96.
The 25-year-old from UCC rowing club has qualified for her second Olympics along with Casey, this result a good indication of their prospects come Paris, even though some of the top lightweight crews weren’t competing on this occasion.
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Jake McCarthy went into the men’s lightweight single final shortly before with similar medal ambitions, after winning his heat last Thursday, but the 27-year-old – twin brother of Fintan – found those conditions difficult and the Skibbereen rower ended sixth behind Italy’s Niels Torre, who took the win in 7:41.72, McCarthy finishing in 8:12.56.
Fintan McCarthy had originally entered the lightweight doubles along with Paul O’Donovan, but like Casey withdrew after failing to sufficiently recover form a recent illness.
With that O’Donovan moved up to the men’s heavyweight single, and after finishing fifth in his semi-final on Saturday, was back on the water earlier on Sunday morning and finished second in his B Final.
For O’Donovan, who turned 30 a week ago, there is also an indication of his future intentions, given the lightweight crews are no longer part of the Olympic programme after Paris. His semi-final on Saturday was slightly delayed after he capsized his boat shortly before the start, but he still maximised the race experience as he turns his attention back to the lightweight doubles for Paris.
These European Championships didn’t offer the chance for any further Irish crews to secure Paris qualification. That chance is only for countries which so far have zero or one boat qualified for Paris; Rowing Ireland have already qualified six boats. The last chance to qualify further Irish boats will come at the Lucerne regatta on May 19th-21st.
Ireland qualified those six boats for Paris at the World Championships in Belgrade last September: the men’s and women’s pair, men’s and women’s double sculls, and men’s and women’s lightweight double sculls.
In Paris, O’Donovan will look to become the first Irish athlete in any sport to win a medal in three successive Olympics, after his silver in Rio (with older brother Gary), and gold in Tokyo (with McCarthy).
Later in the women’s double sculls final, Zoe Hyde and Alison Bergin – also qualified for Paris already – finished fifth, the Norwegian crew the clear winners there in 7:39.42, the Irish coming home in 7:55.56.
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