Irish rowers get off to good start at European Championships

Two wins and a second place in heats of Olympic-class events made for a very satisfactory start to the European Championships for the Ireland team in Brandenburg, Germany.

The smaller entry than in World Cup regattas (34 countries) gave Ireland’s top crews the chance to qualify for semi-finals if they placed in the top three, but the men and women in green raced hard and gave notice that they intend to be in the frame for medals come Sunday.

Sanita Puspure continued in her good vein of form with a clear win in the heat of the women’s single sculls.

Britain's Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne, who is just 21, led in the early stages, but Puspure (34) moved away from the rest from half way. Elza Gulbe of Latvia took second, with Hodgkins-Byrne third.

Olympic champion Mirka Knapkova and Magdalena Lobnig won the other two heats, but in slower times than Puspure.

Bothers Paul and Gary O’Donovan saw off the challenge of the Czech Republic and Belgium in the lightweight doubles.

Norway won their heat in a time almost five seconds faster than the Irish, and the World Champions of 2013 are the crew to beat.

Claire Lambe and Sinéad Jennings fought it out with Germany and the Netherlands in their heat of the women's lightweight double sculls, but had to settle for second.

Germany dropped back in the closing stages, but despite more than matching their stroke rate, Jennings and Lambe had to give way to the better finishing speed of Ilse Paulis and Maaike Head of the Netherlands.

The Dutch have every reason to seek their best form just now: they have to qualify later this month for the Olympic Games, as does Puspure.

Ireland's two non-Olympic crews face into Saturday repechages. Mark O'Donovan and Shane O'Driscoll finished a creditable second to world champions Sam Scrimgeour and Joel Cassells in a heat of the lightweight pair, but just one crew qualified directly for the final. Denise Walsh took fifth in her heat of the lightweight single sculls.