Irish crews have golden opportunity

Rowing/World Chmpionships: It is all there for them. Ireland's lightweight four can confirm their position as one of the best teams the country has produced when they go for gold in the World Championship final in Gifu, Japan, tomorrow morning (4.30 Irish time).

Yesterday was another exceptional day for the sport in Ireland. The lightweight four won their semi-final, and the lightweight double of Sinéad Jennings and Heather Boyle finished second in theirs to become the first Irish women's crew to reach a final at this level in an Olympic event.

Under German coach Harald Jahrling, the four have wrought big changes to their tactical approach and the dividends have been there to see.

Eugene Coakley, Tim Harnedy, Richard Archibald and Paul Griffin now place little value on being in front at the 500-metre mark, prioritising the middle 1,000 metres of the course. So it was again yesterday: Germany led by small margins through the first two quarters, but by 1,500 metres the Irish had edged ahead and they had a second and a half over Germany by the end. Australia took the third qualifying spot.

"It was good," said Jahrling, untroubled by the closeness of the Germans through much of the race. "It is the World Championships. You only mind if you get beaten!"

France won the other semi-final, and have their own reasons to see tomorrow as a golden opportunity. They beat Ireland into third place the only time these crews have met this season, at the World Cup regatta in Munich. Yesterday the French had just under two seconds to spare over ever-dangerous Italy, with Poland qualifying in third.

Jahrling has his own analysis, however. "France and Germany are much faster than us in the first 500 metres. But it looks like they pay a price in the second half of the race," he says. "But we will see." He thinks the Italians must still be watched. "Italy race like we do. They are conservative in the first half."

The Danish lightweight four, who dominated this event for a decade, have left the stage. A new crew can make a claim for pre-eminence in the new Olympic cycle. France, Ireland, Germany and Italy all have reasons to think they can do this. There is a lot at stake tomorrow.

For Sinéad Jennings, this was to be the championships where she added a second gold in the lightweight single scull title she won in in Lucerne in 2001. But things have moved on.

There is only one Olympic event for lightweight women, the lightweight double, and Jahrling has put the emphasis there. When Boyle and Niamh Ní Chéilleachair could not reach the required standard this season, Jennings was told to pocket her dreams of gold in the single - she was back in the boat in which she had campaigned with little success for three seasons.

Germany's Daniela Reimer and Marie-Louise Draeger look to be on course for gold in this championships, and Boyle and Jennings were two seconds behind them in their semi-final yesterday.

The Irish started slowly but improved and did well to push Australia into third place. Ireland's time of seven minutes 6.62 seconds was also considerably better than Finland's winning mark of 7:09.27 in the second semi-final, where Poland and the USA also qualified.

The Ireland crew, with Boyle now switched to the stroke seat, have shown "improvement since they came here" according to Jahrling. Can they medal tomorrow? "I don't know. They will do their best on Sunday."

A medal at this championships would open up new vistas for Jennings (28) and Boyle (29). Last year they just missed qualification for the Olympics, with Poland winning the qualifier. Tomorrow they take on the same Polish crew in the final. If they need extra motivation, which they don't, this final (4am Irish time) is a chance to open a new chapter.

The Ireland lightweight pair of Richard Coakley and Siaghal Mac Colgain had shown they had plenty of the right stuff by qualifying for the World Championship semi-finals as effectively a scratch crew.

Yesterday they finished sixth in their semi-final, but will see a place in the top 12 as a stepping stone. At 22 (Coakley) and 23 (Mac Colgain) are young, but they will be eager to move on to an even higher level.

Two years ago, when the lightweight four reached their first World Championship final, Paul Griffin told the world he would soon turn 24 and it was time to target the big prizes. Griffin turned 26 on Thursday. Time to win himself a big birthday present.