Sport

Aifric Keogh remains focused on the process as she plots a route to Paris

This week’s trials at the Irish Rowing Centre in Cork mark an important stage for Ireland’s top rowers in an Olympic year

Olympic medalist and Dare to Believe Ambassador, Aifric Keogh, attending a school visit in Mount Anville NS in Dublin as part of the Olympic Schools programme. Photograph: Sam Barnes/Sportsfile

Ian O'Riordan
Wed Mar 6 2024 - 06:00

Every Olympic journey is different, and in some sports it begins with the boat. Now comes the part when it’s decided who exactly gets to sit in them come the Paris Games in July.

Whether that’s rowing, sailing, or canoeing, Ireland is no different in that the boat spot is qualified first, before the national federation nominates their preferred crew. For Rowing Ireland some of these decisions are straightforward, others perhaps less so.

“To be honest, everyone just wants to be in the fastest boat, so whichever boat turns out to be the fastest, that’s definitely where I’d like to be sitting,” says Aifric Keogh, speaking ahead of this week’s trials at the Irish Rowing Centre in Cork.

At the delayed Tokyo Games, Keogh made Irish rowing history as part of the first women’s crew to win a medal, in the four, along with Fiona Murtagh, Emily Hegarty and Eimear Lambe.

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Despite going on to win silver at the 2022 European Championships, injury started to further break up that quartet, and so for last year’s World Championships in Belgrade, Keogh joined Murtagh in the women’s pair.

There, they were among the six boats which qualified for Paris, along with the men’s pair, men’s and women’s double sculls, and men’s and women’s lightweight double sculls.

No one expects Paul O’Donovan and Fintan McCarthy to be broken up – O’Donovan now boasting 13 rowing championship medals, including Olympic gold and silver, and he will look to become to first Irish athlete from any sport to win a medal in three successive Olympics.

The other crew pairings are looking well nailed down too, only there is still that matter of the women’s four. The last chance for Paris 2024 qualification will be at the final Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, on May 19th-21st, only this time it’s the boat that qualifies (top two only), but also the crew that competes in Lucerne must also compete in Paris.

Ireland’s Aifric Keogh, Eimear Lambe, Fiona Murtagh and Emily Hegarty celebrate their bronze medal success in Tokyo. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho

For Keogh, who turns 32 a couple of weeks before Paris, and who has admitted she’s struggled a little with some post-Tokyo motivation, the natural selection at this point would likely be the pair. But anything can change after this week’s trails, under the direction of Rowing Ireland high-performance director Antonio Maurogiovanni.

“Like I’ve said so many times, the team is in a great place, and I think people are just excited to get racing,” adds Keogh. “The winter is long and we’ve done a lot of long miles and we’re just starting to get into that racing side of things, the shorter, more intense pieces, and we’re starting to see flickers of what our speed might be.

“And I think everyone’s just kind of excited to get out there in the next 10 days or so to measure up and see how we’re getting on.

“We have the four medals we won at the World Championship last year, we have athletes to test ourselves against. We’re going to be lining up against Paul and Fintan to see if anyone can knock them off the top spot or what’s going to happen.

“So yeah, we have a great team to test ourselves against and it’s going to be exciting.”

For those World Championships last year, the women’s four consisted of Lambe, Sanita Puspure, Imogen Magner and Natalie Long, finishing third in the B-Final. Whether Maurogiovanni chances adding Keogh or Murtagh to improve their qualification chances in Lucerne remains to be seen.

Other sports are already deciding who gets to sit in their boats: Canoeing Ireland have nominated Liam Jegou for the C1 Slalom after winning the trial against Robert Hendrick, who did qualify for the boat last year, but misses out again, like he did for Tokyo.

Fiona Murtagh and Aifric Keogh celebrate qualifying Paris Olympic Games at the Horizon Irish Open at the K Club, Co Kildare. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho

Hendrick’s twin brother Noel Hendrick will get the K1 Slalom spot, with Madison Corcoran also untested for the women’s K1 spot, after also qualifying that boat last year.

In sailing, Eve McMahon is likewise uncontested for the ILCA6 spot, the boat she qualified, and Finn Lynch looks certain to get the ILCA7 spot, which he also qualified. But the men’s skiff is still undecided, between Seán Waddilove and Robert Dickson (who qualified the boat) and Seafra Guilfoyle and Johnny Durcan.

For Keogh, an ambassador for the Olympic Federation of Ireland Dare to Believe programme’s Road to Paris schools’ challenge, supported by PTSB, it’s still too soon to start talking her medal hopes.

“I think that’s a bit too far away, we’re very much process-focused and just trying to execute whatever it might be in a session or a training block.

“It might enter the back of your mind, ‘God, I hope it all goes well’ and medals might come into your head, but I think that’s a fleeting thought. You’re so preoccupied by the next trial or the next week of training that you almost don’t have the energy to think that far ahead.”

Ian O'Riordan

Ian O'Riordan

Ian O'Riordan is an Irish Times sports journalist writing on athletics

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