Skibb's Jake McCarthy secures bronze medal at World Rowing Championships in Shanghai

It was the 28 year old's first medal at a Senior World Championships and followed his brother Fintan's bronze in the double sculls on Friday

MEDAL MAN: Ireland's Jake McCarthy with his bronze medal from the Lightweight Singles final at the World Rowing Championships in Shanghai, China. Pic: Benedict Tufnell/Sportsfile

SKIBBEREEN'S Jake McCarthy delivered like his twin brother Fintan to secure a bronze medal Saturday in the men's lightweight singles at the World Rowing Championships in Shanghai.

On day seven of the Championships, McCarthy delivered a strong performance to win the bronze medal in the Lightweight Men’s Single Sculls (LM1x) — his first medal at a Senior World Championships. It followed his brother Fintan's bronze in the double sculls on Friday.

Jake produced a composed and consistent performance, maintaining third position throughout the race and finishing with a powerful sprint to close the gap to second place. He crossed the line with a time of 06:59.07. The race saw Turkey's Halil Kaan Koroglu go out hard before Julian Schoeberl of Austria assumed the lead by the halfway stage. Uruguay's Felipe Kluver upped the tempo in the closing 500m and moved through Schoeberl decisively to take victory.

McCarthy pushed hard for silver, but the Austrian held on for second.

"It's my first medal on the world stage, so I'm hugely delighted," McCarthy said afterwards "It was a tough one, it was kind of different to other regattas in that it was more trying to handle the heat as well as everything else. Luckily I had such a good support staff this year that helped me out giving me all the tips.

"I probably pestered them a lot with all the questions, but luckily was able to get a medal in the end."

There was also a strong showing from Siobhán McCrohan, who narrowly missed out on a podium finish in the Lightweight Women’s Single Sculls (LW1x), while Tiarnán O’Donnell and Sadhbh Ní Laoighre finished third in the PR2 Mixed Double B Final.

Ireland has further medals hopes on Sunday with Fiona Murtagh competing in the women’s single sculls final at 7.17am and, if the quality Fintan McCarthy and Mags Cremen will race in the mixed double final at 7.44.