Aoife Casey and Margaret Cremen have won the bronze medal for Ireland in the World Rowing Championships in the Czech Republic, beating out the more fancied French boat.
The lightweight women's double crew finished behind the USA and Great Britain, but pulled away from France in the last few hundred metres of the race.
It is the best result so far of the pair's career, and it shows they are a real threat the the dominance of Great Britain two years out from the Olympics.
"We were trying to race the best race we can," said Cremen after the medal. "We were focused on the process. Those last few strokes were the longest of my life. I really can't believe it, it's unbelievable.
"We always say the races were like battles, you have to be more mentally strong than physically strong. We knew from the semi that hope was all we needed was hope and the hope took us home."
Ireland Take Brilliant Bronze Medal At Rowing Championships
🥉🥉 Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey win bronze in the lightweight women's double sculls at the World Rowing Championships | 📺 Watch #WRChamps live now on @RTEOne and @RTEPlayer https://t.co/YbeQAiyXQ2 pic.twitter.com/htTCEDyJWX
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 24, 2022
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Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy continued their dominance of the sport with a gold medal in the men's lightweight double sculls.
O'Donovan also continued his run of fantastic post-race interviews.
"Oh, it's fine yeah," said the Skibbereen man when asked about the race win. "There's no expectation or pressure really, I think that's just something people talk about, we wouldn't be too concerned about what people think."
The women's four of Aifric Keogh, Eimear Lambe, Fiona Murtagh and Emily Hegarty disappointed in their final as they could only muster a sixth place finish.
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