Gold and two silver for Ireland rowers at U23 World Championships

Brian Colsh and Konan Pazzaia were last year's bronze medalistsin the men's double sculls and this year have moved to the top of the podium bringing home gold medals.

Sun, 23 Jul, 2023 - 14:44

Clara O'Brien

The crews pulled out all of the stops in today's A Finals and were rewarded with three podiums out of the four boats. The lightweight men's double were extremely unlucky, catching a last minute crab to drop them out of the medals.

Brian Colsh and Konan Pazzaia are the 2023 U23 World Champions in the men's double sculls. Last year this duo won bronze and have successfully made the upgrade to gold today. Colsh and Pazzaia went out fast taking an early lead ahead of the field. Once their bow was ahead there was no stopping the duo as they charged to the line, consistently sitting as the fastest boat on the water.

The Cork scullers, Andrew Sheehan and Alison Bergin both put on an exceptional show bagging silver medals. With a conservative start, Sheehan sat in third position while Piotr Plominski of Poland took a commanding lead. Sheehan stayed in touch with the group and coming into the final 500m he kicked up a gear increasing his stroke rate to 40 strokes per minute. He broke through the Portuguese sculler and reduced the margin on Plominski with every stroke finishing just 0.71 of a second behind the gold medallist.

Alison Bergin of Fermoy Rowing Club also upgraded her 2022 medal from a bronze to a silver this year. Bergin held her composure through the middle of the race, relying on that sprint finish that Ireland are very well known for. Moving from fifth to third position in the first 1500m of the race, there was no holding her back when it came to a fight for silver in the final quarter. There was no boat holding Bergin's pace as they closed in on the line, as she gained on the Swiss sculler Aurelia-Maxima Katharina Janzen. In the end, Janzen held on to the lead that she had put down early in the race Bergin finishing in second place.

The lightweight men's double of Ciaran Purdy (Queen's University BC) and Rory O'Neill (University of Limerick RC) just missed out on the medals finishing in fourth place. They sat in sixth place through the halfway mark but the second 1000m saw them picking up their speed and the lightweight duo started to move towards the top places. With 300m to go they found themselves in third and were actively gaining on Spain for the silver spot. Disaster struck 50m out from the line when Purdy and O'Neill caught a boat stopping crab pulling them out of the podium positions.

"The team showed some incredible performances today and are coming away with well deserved gold and silver medals. To be U23 World Champions in an Olympic boat class is hugely motivating for the years ahead." said High Performance Director, Antonio Maurogiovanni. "Last year we won a silver and three bronze medals, this year we have improved again picking up gold and two silvers with a close 4th place."

"The lightweight double were unfortunate not to make the medals but had an excellent performance finishing in the top end of their boat class. Our U23’s are a testament to the strength that our entire high performance squad has and it’s great to see them up on the podium year after year. A big thanks to all the athletes, families, clubs, coaches and staff."

Ireland Results

BM2x - Brian Colsh, Konan Pazzaia - GOLD

BM1x - Andrew Sheehan - SILVER

BW1x - Alison Bergin - SILVER

BLM2x - Ciaran Purdy, Rory O'Neill - 4th