Coxless four crew finish last

Rowing: A false startIreland's lightweight coxless four crew met with disaster on the water at Penrith yesterday, finishing last in their heat, writes Keith Duggan in Sydney. The team now have to slug it out in Wednesday's repechage session to re-ignite their Sydney challenge.

The four, listed before the games as among Ireland's strongest medal prospects,were out of contention from the off, suffering from a sluggish start that saw them drift off the pace.

"It was the worst performance we ever had," admitted coach Ray Simms afterwards. "Obviously we are bitterly disappointed but we've got repechage now. What happened was they didn't fire up in the first five to seven strokes and, at this level, you're so far off then you are playing catch-up."

Although ranked fifth in the exceptionally strong group, the Irish were expected to comfortably secure a top-three placing. From the outset however, it was clear they were out of sync, with the Australian and Dutch squads setting the early pace.

The Irish, however, were not panic stricken. "We just didn't race. We know what to do now and you will see a different Irish team on Wednesay. We've had a chat, will take it easy tomorrow and will come out firing the next day. It's not a problem for us," promised Simms.

They appeared to rally slightly over the closing 300 metres but not significantly to alter the final placing and were disconsolate as they crossed the line. Afterwards, the four rowed straight to the warm down section and back to the team area to analyse what constituted a catastrophic free fall after anearly season that promised so much.

Swimming: Couldn't take the heat

Chantal Gibney finished fourth in heat three of the 200-metres freestyle earlier this morning. The Dublin swimmer failed to qualify for the semi-finals with a disappointing time of two minutes 05.24 seconds which was well under her personal best, though only 1.18 seconds from second place in the heat.

In a very fast third heat Colin Louth finished eight in the men's 200-metres butterfly in a time of 2:03.91.

Belfast's Emma Robinson finished fifth in her women's 100 metres breaststroke heat. She swam 1:13.41, making her 29th fastest among the 41 swimmers. Andrew Bree, the teenager from Co Down, was only 41st fastest of 65 competitors during the 100-metre breaststroke heats. Despite the disappointment of not going further, Bree swam well, equalling his personal-best time for the event.

Canoeing: Baptism of fire

Eadaoin Ni Challarain experienced a difficult introduction to major competition when finishing 18th of 20 starters in the women's K1 canoeing championship.

Shooting: Pressure gets to Burnett

NOR was there much joy for Ireland's two representatives in the men's trap shooting championship. Derek Burnett was placed joint 18th with David Malone 22nd.