ROWING Irelands single sculler Casey takes fifth place in World Rowing Championship heats in Poland

Irelands Sen Casey took fifth place with a time of 7.14.27 in the single sculls heat at the World Rowing Championships in Poznan, Poland today.

This, the third of four qualifying heats was won by World champion Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand with a time of 6:57.12.

Casey now gets a second chance to qualify going into the repechages on Tuesday when he will be looking to improve on his performance and earn a place in the semi-finals on Thursday. Those who come first and second in the four repechages will join the winners of the four heats today for the two semi-finals on Thursday.

The four top world scullers all came first in their heats and automatically qualify for the semi-finals, Olympic champion Norways Olaf Tufte, Britains Alan Campbell, Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand and finally Belgiums Tim Maeyens. Maeyens is now coached by former Irish national rowing coach, Harald Jahrling..

Both of Irelands adaptive Crews go into action tomorrow.

The legs, trunk and arms mixed coxed four took a bronze medal at their first attempt at the World Cup in Munich in June.. There are three World Cup competitions throughout the international rowing year with the pinnacle of the season being the World Championships.

The adaptive rowing team will compete in two categories, the TA2X, trunk and arms double scull, which is crewed by Karen Cromie from Belfast Rowing Club and Vincent Culhane from Castelconnell Boat Club. Karen, representing Ireland for the first time, finished fifth in the same event at the Beijing games rowing for Britain, while her rowing partner,Vinny Culhane is an ex- rugby player who played with London Irish before suffering a spinal injury.

Competing in the LTA4+, a coxed four event are Shane Ryan, Kevin DuToit, Sarah Caffrey, and Emer Patten, coxed by Amy Judge. Coach James Mangan says, Our goal is to reach the A final which is the top six and take it from there.

For updates on the championships visit: http://www.worldrowing.com/display/modules/news/dspNews.php?newid=324692