ROWING: They might be one of Ireland's best hopes for a medal at next year's Olympic Games but they might not even be together by then. Sam Lynch and Gearoid Towey have their first competitive outing as a crew today when they take to the water here at the BearingPoint World Cup regatta in Lucerne.
Lynch is the reigning world lightweight single sculls champion, having won the title for the last two years. Towey is a former world under-23 champion in the same discipline and was a senior world champion in a lightweight pair in 2001.
They have come together in a lightweight double is because it is an Olympic boat and they have targeted success in Athens. However, Lynch has always been at the heavier end of the lightweight spectrum, and while the news from the camp is that the crew will make the weight (an average of 70kg a man) the real question is whether it can produce the goods at that weight.
We will not have to wait long to find out: Ireland's A lightweight double is drawn in a heat with Germany, who will have every intention of winning today and take the direct route to the semi-final. Japan also have a good record, while Egypt are not likely to figure.
Ireland's second lightweight double, Eugene Coakley and Timmy Harnedy, are the one crew of the big Irish team who know their form, having placed seventh at the first World Cup regatta in Milan. They, too, have a contender in their heat, in the shape of Poland, along with Russia, Romania and Hong Kong.
Harnedy, who has recovered from a recent back strain, and Coakley know that they could yet emerge as the premier double, so they have a lot to drive them on.
The ultimate aim of the Irish lightweights this year is to qualify for the men's double and four and the women's double for Athens. The men's crews have to finish in the top 11 in the World Championships next month, the women in the top nine.
Like Towey and Lynch, the sole Irish women's double competing here, Fiola Foley and Sinead Jennings, is essentially untested. And it too will be given a quick introduction to the top level, as Germany are in Ireland's heat, which is completed by Denmark, Australia Two and China.
The Germans are also in the heat for the Ireland men's lightweight four. The Irish crew of Derek Holland, Niall O'Toole, Richard Armstrong and Paul Griffin has a great deal of experience as a group, but have not competed together as a crew before.
The Irish team also contains two lightweight scullers and a men's lightweight pair, but the biggest interest will lie in how the Olympic boats perform.
The team for Milan will be picked the week after next, when the athletes will undergo tests in the NCTC in Limerick and are likely to do work at O'Brien's Bridge. But it is the action here which should have the biggest bearing on who goes to Milan.
The value of competition was emphasised at Henley Royal Regatta, where an untested under-23 heavyweight four grew with each race, eventually winning the Visitors' Cup and raising hopes that they may make waves at the World Under-23 regatta in a fortnight in Belgrade.
