Image Credit: World Rowing
Women’s Pair
Top of the C-final, 13th in the world, was the result produced by this crew. The pairing of Emily Hegarty and Aoife Casey are used to better finishing berths (both athletes are previous Olympic A-finalists), but I don’t think there should be much disappointment in this placing. These athletes both spent the year in full-time study at the University of London, racing at Henley Royal Regatta, and only joined the squad at the National Rowing Centre after their Henley Royal Regatta campaign. Combining this with Casey’s transition to heavyweight sweep rowing from lightweight sculling, I think there is plenty left in the potential of this crew.
Women’s Double Scull
This is another boat from the Irish team featuring a former lightweight. Topping the B-final was a good result for this crew, with Zoe Hyde being a B-finalist in Paris and Margaret Cremen making the A-final in the same Olympic Regatta. Finishing just outside the medal places at the European Rowing Championships is a slight fallback, but plenty is left in this Olympiad for this duo to climb up the rankings.
Men’s Single Scull
Konan Pazzaia moved from the double to the single after Phil Doyle returned to the National Centre squad. He had impressively rowed to bronze at the European Rowing Championships with Fintan McCarthy. Finishing second in the C-final, 14th overall, in a competitive field is a good building block for this athlete as he establishes himself as a strong player in the squad.
Men’s Quadruple Scull
This crew has not found A-final form, finishing this regatta 13th of 14 crews. Their best result this season was second in the World Rowing Cup II B-final. This boat has a lot of room for improvement if they wish to be A-finalists at the Los Angeles Olympics.
Women’s Four
This boat class helped propel Irish rowing into the mainstream when they won bronze in Tokyo, but the iterations since then have not found that medal-placing form. Third place of the 12 entries will leave much to be desired from this crew, albeit missing the strongest sweep rower of the squad, Fiona Murtagh, who moved to the single this season.
Men’s Double Scull
This boat class was always going to be an interesting boat for the Irish squad, with four Olympic medalists vying for seats in this boat. In the end, it was heavyweight bronze medalist Phil Doyle and lightweight Olympic champion Fintan McCarthy who formed the crew, as their respective former partners Daire Lynch and Paul O’Donovan focus on their medical careers and studies. This was one of Ireland’s foremost medal hopes, and they didn’t disappoint. Bronze for the relatively newly formed crew was an excellent result that the country is proud of.
Women’s Single Scull
As the rest of the rowing world fawned over Britain’s Lauren Henry, the rowing population of Ireland knew that, from Fiona Murtagh’s early-season results, would spell eventual champion status. Only sitting into the single for the first time this year, and immediately obtaining medals, we knew Murtagh would be a future champion. Murtagh took the race by the scruff of the neck early, knowing that the elite sculling ability of Henry would have the skill to respond; this race was exciting to the last stroke, Irish and British hearts in their mouths. While a medal was expected, emerging as a champion was a dream come true for Murtagh and the entire nation of Ireland.
Mixed Double Scull
The excitement of Murtagh’s single scull result had barely subsided before the Irish fan base took to the waterside for another scintillating race. The two former lightweights from the county of Cork pulled ahead after the initial start period and never allowed an inch from the opposition. Mid-race photos depicted the grimaces on these athletes’ faces as they held off the fast-finishing Dutch to become Ireland’s second world champions for the 2025 season.
