Izzy Clements claimed a silver medal in the Lightweight Women’s Single Sculls A Final, headlining an impressive day’s racing by Irish crews at World Cup 1 in Seville.
Clements, of Tara RC / Edinburgh University Boat Club delivered a blistering second half of the race to claim second behind Kenia Lechuga Alanis of Mexico who led for most of the contest.
Rowing Ireland High Performance Director Niall O’Carroll said: “Izzy’s performance today and indeed the quality of the racing in that Final showcases the need to ensure we always have lightweight rowing. What a great race and all of us in the team are immensely proud of Izzy for her talent, tenacity and determination when it mattered most.”
First up today was Ireland’s current World Champion, Fiona Murtagh, who recorded a third place in Semi Final Heat 1 of the Women’s Single Sculls to gain automatic qualification to tomorrow’s A final. In searing heat, the 2025 World Champion delivered a composed performance to safely navigate her way into the final.
Continuing his debut in the Men’s Open Single Sculls, lightweight double Olympic champion Fintan McCarthy faced strong opposition in this tightly contested Semi Final. Despite a huge surge in the final 500m, he finished in 4th place close behind Germany, Norway and Belgium. The result qualifies the Skibbereen RC rower to contest tomorrow’s B Final, a further positive in his step up to the heavyweight class.
A further highlight of the days racing was the two Rowing Ireland Women’s Double crews of Sophia Young & Alison Bergin, and Mags Cremen & Zoe Hyde who both finished in second place in their respective Semi Final heats to qualify automatically to the A Final.
Continuing their impressive form in Seville, the new pairing of Young & Bergin delivered a commanding surge in the closing stages of the race, shaving nearly eight seconds off their time from yesterday; and the established pairing of Cremen & Hyde were right among the action at the head of their semi-final finishing less than five-tenths of a second behind Romania in 6:56.73. Their efforts see Rowing Ireland with two boats in the A Final.
The Men’s Pair of Adam Murphy and Fionnán McQuillan-Tolan finished 6th in their Semi-Final which was won in convincing fashion by the Paris 2024 gold medal winning crew from New Zealand. Murphy and McQillan-Tolan will benefit hugely from the experience and will now progress to the B Final in tomorrow’s schedule.
Unfortunately, Rowing Ireland’s Men’s Quad of Konan Pazzaia, Andrew Sheehan, Ryan Spelman and Martin O’Grady were unable to compete in the C Final this morning due to one of the crew being ruled out on medical grounds.
A crew to look out for on Finals day tomorrow are the Women’s Four of Natalie Long, Claire Feerick, Emma Fagan and Imogen Magner who will also contest an A Final having qualified directly on Friday.