Rowing Ireland's Nixon wins silver at World Junior Rowing Championships

Holly Nixon won a silver medal in the lightweight women's single sculls at the World Rowing Championships at Lake Dorney in England today. The 17 year old from Portora Boat Club in Enniskillen has given Ireland its first ever medal at this level. Nixon produced a fine display leading from the front but it was not enough to hold off the strong challenge of Germany's Anne Beenken who pipped her to the finish line by a mere two seconds.

Skibbereen's Paul O'Donovan (17) took fourth place in the men's single sculls and unluckily missed out on a bronze by a mere 0.32 of a second. Once again it was a German rower, Stephan Riemekaster who took first place. Rowing Ireland lead junior coach, Derek Holland said today, "This is a massive boost for the sport at junior level. We have achieved junior honours in Europe but this is the first time that Ireland has achieved at World Junior level."

Results

• Men: Junior Single Scull - A Final: 1 Germany (S Riemekasten) 7:03.41, 2 Greece (A Dafnis) 7:05.42, 3 Ukraine (A Mykhailov) 7:05.78; 4 Ireland (P O'Donovan) 7:06.10, 5 Latvia 7:18.57, 6 Switzerland 7:21.38.
• Women: Junior Single Scull - A Final: 1 Germany (A Beenken) 7:58.00, 2 Ireland (H Nixon) 7:59.56, 3 Latvia (E Gulbe) 8:02.62; 4 Italy 7:06.10, 5 Denmark 8:10.75, 6 Czech Republic 8:17.94.