Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy breeze through to final amid high winds and choppy waters

'We’d a little bit of a party last night with the Norwegians. We’re going to cut back on that tonight because they certainly weren’t the better of it'

Ireland's Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan are safely through to an Olympic final. Picture: INPHO/Morgan Treacy

Place booked in an Olympic final. A world’s best time to go with it. And all on the back of what Paul O’Donovan described as a bit of a party with the Norwegians the night before. Just another day, and night, in the life of this extraordinary men’s lightweight double sculls crew.

O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy posted a time of 6:05.33 to overtake a record that had stood for seven years, their performance coming on a course that was buffeted by very strong winds in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Nepartak that passed through Tokyo and caused a delay to the schedule this week.