Irish women's four and quadruple sculls reach World Championship semi-finals

The Irish men's four and quadruple sculls missed out on places in the semi-finals

The Irish women's four crew of Claire Feerick (Neptune RC), Aisling Hayes (Skibbereen RC), Emma Waters (University of Galway BC) and Emma Fagan (University of Galway BC) in action at the 2026 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam. Pic: Detlev Seyb/World Rowing

The Irish women's four and quadruple sculls boats qualified for the semi-finals on the second day of action at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam.

The women's four crew of Claire Feerick (Neptune RC), Aisling Hayes (Skibbereen RC), Emma Waters (University of Galway BC) and Emma Fagan (University of Galway BC) finished second in their heat, easing in behind world champions USA. They qualified fifth-fastest overall.

This is a new Irish crew, though not one without experience. Fagan and Feerick were in the Irish boat which finished sixth in the women's four at the World Cup in Seville earlier this year.

"It was long," said Fagan.

"It was hard in the headwind, but this is my first World Championships and once we hit that K we were just long and strong to the end, baby!"

An impressive Australian crew won the first heat with Romania in second. Netherlands took the second heat, followed in by Great Britain.

The women's quadruple sculls finished third in their heat but progressed to the semi-finals as the second fastest non-automatic qualifier.

The crew of Emily Hegarty (Skibbereen RC), Sophia Young (Methodist College Belfast RC), Alison Bergin (Fermoy RC) and Izzy Clements (Tara RC) finished in 6:59.16 behind heat winners Switzerland, with USA in second.

Hegarty won an Olympic bronze medal at the Tokyo Games as part of the women's four while Bergin was in the double sculls boat at the Paris Games. Young and Clements have both had breakthrough seasons. The 19-year-old Young won silver in the single sculls at the U23 Championships last month, while 22-year-old Clements won silver and bronze, respectively, in the lightweight single sculls at the World Cup events in Seville and Lucerne.

The Irish men's four crew of Jack Dorney (Shandon BC), James Doran (Tara RC), Adam Murphy (Shandon BC/UCC BC) and Fionnán McQuillan-Tolan (Cork BC) came sixth in their heat. Their 6:34.50 time was not quick enough to progress as one of the fastest non-automatic qualifiers.

The men's quadruple sculls crew of Konan Pazzaia (Queen's University Belfast BC), Andrew Sheehan (UCC/Lee RC), Ryan Spelman (St Michael's RC) and Martin O'Grady (University of Galway BC) also missed out on the semi-finals after finishing in 6:44.42 to come fifth in their heat. 

Reigning world champion Fiona Murtagh gets her campaign underway on Wednesday when she goes in the fifth heat of the single sculls. The 31-year-old, who rows with the University of Galway Boat Club,  won the 2025 title in Shanghai, just edging out Great Britain's Lauren Henry. Earlier this month, the Brit won the European title while Olympic champion Karolien Florijn has also returned to international racing. 

Double Olympic champion Fintan McCarthy will also be in action on Wednesday when he goes in the third heat of the single sculls. The 29-year-old is in his first season in the openweight category after winning gold medals at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics alongside Paul O'Donovan in the lightweight double. That event has since been scratched from the Olympic programme. Skibbereen's McCarthy made his openweight singles debut at the World Cup in Seville at the end of May, finishing ninth overall. 

Two other Irish crews will go in semi-finals on Wednesday. The women's double sculls of Zoe Hyde and Mags Cremen will be in the water at 3:42pm while the women's pair of Imogen Magner and Natalie Long go at 3:27pm.