Aifric Keogh and Emily Hegarty have also secured their place in a world final.

The World Rowing Cup regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland, presents Ireland’s seniors with a final chance to test themselves before the year’s main event, the World Rowing Championships in September.

The 2017 World Rowing Cup series heads to Lake Malta near Poznan in Poland tomorrow for the second of three regattas in the series. Almost 500 athletes will compete from 39 countries with several, including Australia, China and New Zealand, on the international scene a first time this season.

Gary and Paul O’Donovan will be defending their European lightweight double sculls title at the 2017 European Rowing Championships this weekend, writes Sarah Dineen.

The Irish domestic rowing calendar gets underway this weekend with the Cork Head of the River. It’s the first of eight “heads” to be held around the country between now and April 1, when events change to full regattas. The main difference here being that HORs are simply timed events where boats are let off one at a time over longer distances, while a regatta comprises of side by side racing and considerably weightier glory for title-holders.