Separating the O'Donvan brothers seems to have done little to water-down the talents of either, judging by today's action at World Cup III in Rotterdam.
Both managed to progress from their heats in their respective events. This leg of the World Cup series is one of the last big steps on the road to the World Championships in Austria (Aug 25-Sep 1).
It's been a positive day for the Irish crews in action today, with five out of six managing to make their A/B semi finals.
Gary O'Donovan is the sibling left to go it alone, and he placed 3rd in his heat of the Lightweight Men's Single Sculls (LM1x), and he'll return to the water for his A/B semi final at 9.40 tomorrow morning.
In the same event, Jake McCarthy went one better, placing second in his heat.
It's Jake's twin brother Fintan that's the new partner for Paul O'Donovan in the Lightweight Men's Double Sculls (LM2x). The new partnership won their heat, beating the Australian crew of Hamish Parry and Leon Chambers by nearly 5-seconds. The McCarthy/O'Donovan tandem's time of 6:47:95 was still 0:00:85 slower than Germany's Jason Osborne and Jonathan Rommelmann that claimed the first heat.
The other victorious Irish crew today were the Men's Double Sculls (M2x) of Ronan Byrne and Philip Doyle, who pipped Switzerland (Barnabe Delarze & Roman Roesoesli) by just .15 of a second.
Alileen Crowley and Monika Dukarska were first into the water after a weather delay for Ireland today, setting the tempo with a second place finish behind the Kiwi crew of Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler in heat 4 of the Women's Pair (W2-). They'll be back for their A/B semi tomorrow.
But Lydia Heaphy and Denise Walsh placed fourth in their heat of the Lightweight Women's Double Sculls (LW2x), and they'll have to take a place in today's Repechage.
European gold medalist Sanita Puspure is not in action this week, as she had to withdraw due to family reasons.
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