Bronze for O'Donovan and McCarthy as Ireland win four medals at World Cup II

PAUL O’DONOVAN AND Fintan McCarthy, and Fiona Murtagh and Aifric Keogh, secured bronze at World Cup II this morning, bringing Ireland’s medal count in Lucerne to four.

After a busy week in Switzerland, the team now return to Ireland to undertake their final preparations for this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris.

Yesterday, Siobhan McCrohan won gold in the Lightweight Women’s Single A Final, while Tiarnan O’Donnell took silver in the PR2 Men’s Single Final.

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Murtagh and Keogh finished third in the A Final of the Women’s Pair this morning, adding to their previous bronze medal at World Cup I.

Alongside the Netherlands, they were quickest off the mark, but a second-quarter setback saw them fourth at halfway. They powered past Greece and into the podium positions thereafter, finishing behind the Dutch and Australia.

O’Donovan and McCarthy were in action in the Lightweight Men’s Double later, where they also claimed bronze. They clocked a time of 6:18.31, just edged out by Switzerland while Italy took the gold medal.

The Italian duo, Gabriel Soares and Stefano Oppo, powered into a two-second lead over the rest of the field in the first quarter. O’Donovan and McCarthy were second at the midpoint, tit-for-tat with the Swiss from pillar to post. Not more than .3 of a second separated them throughout, and .18 of a second was the difference in the end. 

Elsewhere, Alison Bergin and Zoe Hyde finished fourth in the Women’s Double, while Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey were fifth in the Lightweight Women’s Double. It was the latter crew’s opening event of the season.

John Kearney and Ross Corrigan were sixth in the A Final of the Men’s Pair, racing together for the first time this week, while Brian Colsh and Andrew Sheehan finished out their first World Cup by winning the B Final of the Men’s Double.