All four UCD athletes competing at the 2017 World Rowing U23 Championships returned with medals as David O'Malley and Shane Mulvaney finished 3rd in the Lightweight Mens 2- with Shane O'Connell and Andrew Goff following it up with another 3rd place in the Lightweight Mens 4x.
Entries in the Lightweight Mens 2- meant that only 1st place in the heats would go straight to the A final with the others going to the repechage. Ireland finished 2nd in their heat behind eventual gold medalists Italy but won their rep well to progress. The final was a tight and tense affair with Turkey taking an early lead but Italy and Ireland were level with them by 1500m. From there Italy pulled ahead to win with Turkey just pipping Ireland into 3rd.
The Lightweight Mens 4x got the perfect start by winning their heat and finishing strongly in their semifinal to place 3rd and book a place in the A final. They got off to a steady start in the final, moved into 3rd in the middle of the course and finished very well again, almost closing the gap on Austria in 2nd but finishing 3rd, 1.75 seconds off the Swiss in 1st.
Well done to all athletes! Full results and videos are available here.
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- David O’Malley and Shane Mulvaney, U23 LM2- Bronze Medalists 2017
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- Shane O’Connell, Stephen O’Connor (UCC), Andrew Goff and Niall Beggan (Commercial) – U23 LM4x Bronze Medalists 2017
