Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy reached the final of the lightweight men's double sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Belgrade with victory in their semi-final on Thursday.
The Olympic gold medallists - who are the reigning world champions - won their semi-final in 6:41.83, just over six seconds ahead of the Czech Republic in second. Reaching the final also means that the Irish lightweight men's double sculls boat has qualified for next year's Olympic Games in Paris.
As you'd expect from the Cork men - especially after they had just reached a World Rowing Championship final - they were in a buoyant mood, joking about the strength and conditioning work they'd done recently.
24 September 2022; Fintan McCarthy, left, and Paul O'Donovan of Ireland sing Amhrán na bhFiann after winning the Lightweight Men's Double Sculls Final A, in a time of 06:16.46, during day 7 of the World Rowing Championships 2022 at Racice in Czech Republic. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
“We’ve been training hard, working the biceps a lot," O'Donovan said, sitting in the boat following the semi-final.
"While on training camp in Banyoles, we had a few workouts a day just biceps specific that coach Casey put into the programme for us.
"It was get up in the morning, eat a load of protein, down to gym, work on the biceps. Come back, more protein, rest, and back down in the evening, more biceps in the gym. Then dinner with a load of meat and protein."
McCarthy interjected to add that, O'Donovan is "actually too big for the World Rowing tops these days. He had to go two sizes up."
O'Donovan replied, "We had to get a specially made extra big size. They didn't have it last night for us. They prepared that this morning. Into the headwind, what we done paid off."
O'Donovan and McCarthy will go in the final on Saturday afternoon. The race will be shown live on the RTÉ News channel and the RTÉ Player.
Several other Irish boats have also qualified for the Olympics and will race in A finals this weekend. They include the women's pair of Fiona Murtagh and Aifric Keogh; the men's pair of Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney; the men's double of Phil Doyle and Daire Lynch; and the women's double of Alison Bergin and Zoe Hyde.
Paul O'Donovan And Fintan McCarthy interview after World Rowing Championships semi-final
🎤 “We’ve been training hard you know, working on the biceps 💪”
Listen in to Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy after their semifinal in the LM2x today.#WorldRowingChamps #WRCHBelgrade pic.twitter.com/DeDY20mfqf
— World Rowing (@WorldRowing) September 7, 2023
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