ROWING Irish men's lightweight four sixth in Rowing World Cup final

The Irish lightweight four (LM4-) of Paul Griffin, Richard Archibald, Gearoid Towey, and Eugene Coakley finished sixth in today's final at the Rowing World Cup in Lucerne. This Irish boat is targeting Olympic qualification, at the final Olympic qualifying regatta in Poland beginning June 15th.

Earlier today the heavyweight men’s pair (M2-) of Sean Casey and Jonno Devlin; who are also chasing Olympic qualification in Poland in two weeks time, produced a positive performance to finish third in their B final; ninth overall.

The heavyweight men’s four (M4-) of Alan Martin, Cormac Folan, Sean O'Neill, and James Wall also raced well in their B final, with a fourth place finish; tenth overall at this World Cup. This Irish boat has already qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games but the crew will not be finalised until late June.

In the lightweight four final, the race pace was blistering with 2006 World Champions China taking gold ahead of Denmark and France, in silver and bronze respectively. In this fiercely contested final Germany took fourth, with last year's World Champions Great Britain in fifth, just ahead of the Irish four. The next outing for this Irish four is the final Olympic qualifying regatta in Poznan, Poland in a fortnight, where they will be racing for one of the two Olympic qualifying spots on offer.

Afterwards Eugene Coakley assessed their performance and spoke of the impending qualifying regatta: “It didn’t go as well as it had for the semi-final; we seemed to lack a little energy that we had yesterday, we were a bit physically flat. Just down the middle of the body of the race it kind of got away from us, and we never really got back into contact with the rest of the field. We have two weeks now before Poznan. We had a brilliant race in the semi-final yesterday, so we’re really positive about that, we just have to go to Poznan and do the business.”

The heavyweight men’s pair (M2-) of Sean Casey and Jonno Devlin was first of the Irish out on the water this morning. This duo, still a relatively new combination, in only their second World Cup together recorded their strongest performance yet to take third place in their B final. This represents an overall placing of ninth at this World Cup; a significant  improvement of ten places on their first competitive outing at the Munich World Cup three weeks ago.

Afterwards, Sean Casey assessed their performance; “It was a much better race than yesterday. We had a much better race throughout the whole two kilometres. The middle thousand still needs some work; we just need to work on the tempo through there, but it was a much more solid race.”

Casey and Devlin, like the lightweight four, are attempting to qualify this boat for the Beijing Olympics. They will get their chance at the final Olympic qualifying regatta in Poland beginning June 15th. However, the pair is one of the most competitive boat classes and with only two spots available in Poland it’s going to be a massive challenge. The Canadian pair who have not yet qualified won gold today, and the Chinese, who were fifth in today’s final have not yet qualified. The non qualified Czech crew won today’s B final, and the non qualified Italian and Swiss crews who performed impressively in Munich decided against competing this weekend, in anticipation of the qualifier.

Casey is well aware of the test they face in Poland: “We’ve got two more weeks now before the Olympic qualifier; it’s obviously going to be fairly tough there, with only two qualifying spots left. The Canadians just won the A final quite well and they’re going to be looking to qualify as well, there will be seven or eight crews there altogether looking to qualify. We’re heading in the right direction, and we’ve got two weeks now to get it right, so that’s the goal.”

The heavyweight men’s four (M4-) of Alan Martin, Cormac Folan, Sean O’Neill and James Wall raced shortly after the pair in their B final on the scenic Rotsee lake. The Irish four, which is already assured of a starting berth in Beijing, after securing qualification at last year’s World Championships, was looking to improve on yesterday’s performance, which saw them take sixth in their semi-final.

Fifth at the halfway point the Irish quartet pushed in, found more and moved into fourth place. As they approached the line they advanced on Canada occupying third position with every stroke but the line came too soon and the Irish just missed out on pipping Canada by 0.24 of a second. The German four won the race narrowly ahead of the British crew. It was a positive performance for the Irish four, and their best of the weekend.

“We definitely put together a better race today in our B final today. We put more of our training from our camp over the last three weeks into our race today, which is a positive step. It’s not as good as we can go, but we’re pleased and we’ve made huge progress over the weekend, which is very important”, remarked the bowman of the Irish boat James Wall as they came off the water.

The men’s lightweight double (LM2x) of Cathal Moynihan and Richard Coakley finished third in their C final yesterday; an overall placing at this regatta of 15th, which represents an improvement of ten places on the last World Cup in Munich.

 The Irish team now moves onto a training camp before the final Olympic qualifier in Poznan, Poland which begins on June 15th, and for the already qualified heavyweight four (M4-); the final leg of the World Cup, also in Poznan.

The overall World Cup champions are determined after a series of three regattas (Munich, Lucerne, and Poznan, Poland from June 20th – 22nd) with the initial focus this year on the final Olympic qualifying regatta in Poznan, Poland from 15th-18th June where the last few Olympic spots will be decided. The 2008 Olympic regatta will be held at Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park on the side of the Chaobi river from August 9-17th.
Ends.
Issued on behalf of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union by the Irish Sports Council
 
For Further Information:
Sinéad McElroy, Press Officer to the Irish team, Irish Sports Council; 087-6338512 smcelroy@irishsportscouncil.ie
 
Additional Information:
For competition schedule, live results and commentary visit www.worldrowing.com
 
IMAGES: Stock pictures available reproduction fee free from Sportsfile- 01-4547400 www.sportsfile.com