Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch got Ireland’s rowers off to a strong start at the Olympics by taking a comfortable win in the heats of the men’s double sculls at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in Paris this morning.
The Irish had a conservative start, passing 500m in third but by halfway they had moved up to second, just behind the leaders Spain.
But the Irish duo cranked up the effort in the third quarter, pulling clear of the field and they hit the finish in 6:13.24 to claim one of the three automatic spots in Tuesday’s semi-finals, almost three seconds clear of Spain.
There are high hopes Ireland can claim a medal in the event, the same pair having won bronze at the World Championships last year and going into the event as World Rowing’s second seeds.
Three years ago in Tokyo, Doyle had similar hopes end in disappointment as he and Ronan Byrne failed to make the A final and finished 10th. The Dutch are gold medal favourites in Paris and their duo of team of Melvin Twellaar and Stef Broenink underlined that status with a comfortable victory in the first heat in 6:14.13.
Ireland’s Zoe Hyde (l) and Alison Bergin compete in the women’s double sculls heats rowing competition at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Centre.
Shortly after, Zoe Hyde and Alison Bergin finished third in the heats of the women’s double sculls to advance to the semi-finals.
The Irish duo, who finished fourth in the World Championships last year, made a slow start, hitting halfway in fourth place and over 1.5 seconds behind the third-placed Lithuania, but they changed gears in the third quarter and comfortably advanced in third, clocking 6:52.61 to crucially avoid the repechage.
The race was won by France in 6:48.89. The other crews who advanced automatically to the semi-finals were New Zealand, Great Britain, United States, Romania, Czech Republic and China.
Olympic champions Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy will open their campaign in the heats of the lightweight double sculls tomorrow.