Boyle wins World Cup silver

Heather Boyle claimed a World Cup finals silver medal this morning on the Rotsee lakes in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Drawn in lane five, the Galway woman, one third of Ireland's lightweight female squad and battling for the two places in the double sculls Olympic boat, crossed the line in a time of 07:47.46, nearly eleven seconds quicker than her final qualification time.

Croatia's Mirna Rajle, fourth in last year's World Cup, and aided by the fact that last year's podium finishers all moved into doubles crews this weekend, came from fourth at the 1500m point to win from lane 3 in 07:44.84.

Boyle, a former UCG student, was fifth of six competitors at the quarter mark, but a strong middle section saw her heading the field and impressive Romanian Liliana Niga by 0.27 seconds, with 500m remaining.

Niga, who beat Boyle in Friday's heats, failed to fourth, as Rajle powered through to take honours and Boyle staved off Daniela Nachazelova of the Czech Republic by 0.34 seconds back in third.

World Cup Finals, Lucerne, Switzerland - results

Women's:

Lightweight Sculls A Final - (1) Croatia (Mirna Rajle) 07:44.84 (Lane 3; 1000m 03:52.13), (2) Ireland (Heather Boyle, Tribesmen RC/ Bluecoat), 07:47.46 (Lane 5; 1000m 03:53.08), (3) Czech Republic (Daniela Nachazelova) 07:47.80 (Lane 4; 1000m 03:53.69)

Men's:

Lightweight coxless fours B Final - (1) Japan (A Yano, T Suda, Y Tanabe, K Mimoto) 06:00.71 (Lane 1; 1000m 02:59.56, (3) Ireland (Richard Archibald (Lady Victoria)/ Derek Holland (Imperial Coll)/ Niall O'Toole (Commercial)/ Paul Griffin (Muckross) 06:01.78 (Lane 5; 1000m 03:01.56)