Paul O'Donovan set to compete in heavyweight double at final World Cup regatta
There is a strong chance he will go head-to-head with his crewmate in Paris 2024 and Tokyo 2020, Fintan McCarthy, who will also compete in a double in Lucerne.
Lightweight rowing is no longer an Olympic discipline and top lightweights are moving up to openweight crews.
O'Donovan will team up with Clonmel man Daire Lynch, the Paris bronze medallist in the heavyweight double. McCarthy continues his partnership with Konan Pazzaia. They took bronze on their first outing in a double at the European Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, last month.
Philip Doyle, who partnered Lynch in the medal-winning double at Paris 2024, competed in a quadruple at the Europeans, but he has stepped away from the team for the moment. Brian Colsh replaces him in the quadruple for Lucerne.
The original entry also included the Ireland pair of Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney, which last competed in the Paris 2024 final, finishing sixth. However, Timoney is recovering from injury and the crew will miss this regatta.
Tiarnán O'Donnell, who won gold in the PR2 single at the first World Cup regatta last weekend, teams up with Sadhbh Ní Laoghaire in a new PR3 mixed double. They are effectively competing one level up. This will allow Ní Laoghaire, who is new to pararowing at this level, to be classified so she could be in the picture to compete at the World Championships in September.
On the women's side, Ireland will have two single scullers. Alison Bergin competes alongside Fiona Murtagh, who took silver on her debut in the single at this level at the European Championships.
Fermoy's Bergin competed in a quadruple at the Europeans, but Imogen Magner effectively takes her place in a crew which has now been entered as a four. Zoe Hyde and Mags Cremen will again represent Ireland in the double, while Siobhán McCrohan returns to action in the lightweight single sculls.
Dominic Casey, who heads up Irish rowing as interim lead coach, continues to downplay the importance of results this early in a new Olympic cycle. 'It's a long road ahead,' he said.
However, in a prepared statement, he opined: 'Lucerne is one of the standout events in the rowing calendar. The squad selected brings together a mix of youth and experience, and it's a key opportunity for us to benchmark against world-class crews as we look ahead to the next major test.'
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