Two Irish boats advance to rowing world cup finals

Two of Ireland's four boats contesting today's semi-finals at the final leg of the Rowing World Cup in Lucerne impressively qualified for tomorrow's finals.

First up, the Irish light women's double fought hard in a tight semi-final to claim second place behind the USA and the vital spot in tomorrow's final.

A matter of minutes afterwards the men's lightweight four defeated reigning world champions France to win their semi-final in a thrilling battle.

The French four started fast but the Irish crew anticipated the move and never let them more than a quarter of a length out of their sight. By the halfway mark the Irish had headed them.

The Germans who took gold at the first leg on home soil in Munich six weeks ago kept the pressure on the Irish and French all the way but by the 1,750 metre mark the Irish quartet had pushed a boat length clear on France.

There was a second between the two boats at the finish with the Germans just managing to hold on to the final qualifying spot in third and push the race for the 2006 World Cup title all the way to the wire.

Egypt claimed victory in the second semi-final just crossing the line ahead of the fast finishing Dutch four and the Greeks in third.

After the race Skibbereen native Eugene Coakley said: "We're really happy with how we raced today, we like to win all of our races and it's pleasing to come out on top against the World Champions but winning tomorrow is the one that matters, we expect an equally hard race; we can't wait for it though".

Despite a slow start that left them fifth at the 500 metre mark the double of Jennings and Ni Cheilleachair moved steadily and smoothly through the field picking off all but the World silver medallists USA en route to the line and a starting berth for tomorrow's lunchtime final.

"We're delighted to be in the final again at the World Cup, it was a tough race today and we had to work very hard for our result but the main thing is we're there tomorrow and we're looking forward to it," remarked medical student Jennings as she came off the water.

Ireland's other two semi-finalists; the heavy men's four and single sculler Caroline Ryan will both contest tomorrow's B finals for 7th-12th places.

The heavy four contested a particularly hard semi-final which featured the all-conquering British four, the Dutch, Germans, Poles and French but the Irish quartet put in an outstanding performance to claim fourth, just outside the qualifying zone.

Irish coach Harald Jahrling singled out their performance as one which gave him great satisfaction: "The improvement the four showed today was so good to see, thanks to tremendous hard work they've narrowed the gap hugely between themselves and the best crews in the world; I'm so pleased with how they performed."

This morning the men's double of Sean Jacob and Con Collis were disappointed to finish fifth in their C final; 17th overall, while the light men's double of Tim Harnedy rowed better together to come in third in their C final; eleventh overall.

The Irish team will go directly to their month-long pre-Worlds training camp in St Moritz when Lucerne concludes on Sunday.

With the World Championships only six weeks away, this year being staged on Lake Dorney across the water in Eton, this weekend's concluding World Cup regatta will give this talented Irish squad the most accurate picture of where they stand as they look to those all important championships.

The overall World Cup champions in each category are determined after a series of three regattas (Munich, Poznan & Lucerne) with the centrepiece of the International season the World Championships in Eton, UK beginning August 20.