Irish crew book ticket to Beijing

IRELAND has secured a second boat at the Olympics as the Irish men’s lightweight four (LM4-) put in an impressive performance in the final qualifying regatta in Poznan, Poland yesterday to confirm their place in Beijing.

The four of Paul Griffin, Richard Archibald, Gearóid Towey and Cathal Moynihan grabbed second place in their final, behind Germany. Only the first two boats of the six finalists across the line won Olympic qualification. The four finished with two seconds to spare over the Serbians in third.

Killarney rower Moynihan said the crew had learned from their mistakes in the heats, when the Spanish crew had laid down a fierce challenge: “We’d a great first 500 metres, we went out to make a statement early on; we went out as hard as we could. We went faster than we’ve ever gone in the first 500m. We did plenty early on to make sure we didn’t have to fight for it against the Spanish like we did in the heat, that was our plan and we did it well.”