Murtagh targets further success on rowing's world stage
Five Galway rowers take to the water this week in Amsterdam at World Rowing Championships
Fiona Murtagh will aim to add to her medal-winning form in the World Cup series when she takes to the water this afternoon in the third quarter final in the Women's Single Sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam.
The Galway woman claimed medals at the first and third stagings in the world cup series, and she eased into today's quarter-finals on Wednesday when she finished second in her heat in a time of 8mins 1.18secs, just over a second behind Paige Badenhorst of South Africa.
The University of Galway BC member wasn't the only Galway rower in action this week as fellow club members Emma Waters, Emma Fagan, Fionnan McQuillan-Tolan and Martin O'Grady were also all in action.
Craughwell native Waters was joined by Fagan, as well as Claire Feerick and Aisling Hayes, in a new Women's Four that just missed out yesterday on a place in the A final, finishing fourth in their semi-final.
They finished second behind defending world champions USA in their heat on Tuesday in a time of 7mins 21.08secs, qualifying fifth-fastest overall for yesterday's semi-finals.
They went even quicker yesterday, finishing in a time of 6mins 47.44secs, but that was only good enough to finish fourth, with the German crew coming home in third in a time of 6mins 44.19secs to pip them to the third and final qualifying sport for the final from the race. That B final is scheduled for 9.45am tomorrow.
O'Grady, who hails from Kiltoom in Roscommon, was part of the Men's Quadruple Sculls crew that was on the water on Tuesday, finishing fifth and last in their heat in a time of 6mins 44.42secs, more than 20 seconds behind the wining US crew. Ryan Spelman, Andrew Sheehan, and Konan Pazzaia were the other crew members in a boat that finished 19th of the 19 crews and was eliminated from the competition.
Former Bish student McQuillan-Tolan was part of the Men's Four crew that finished sixth and last in their heat in a time of 6mins 34.50 on Tuesday, almost nine seconds down on the winning British crew. He was joined in the boat by Jack Dorney, James Doran, and Adam Murphy.
That was enough to see them advance to yesterday's C final, where they finished second in a time of 6mins 9.62secs, just two seconds behind the winning Canadian crew.
In all, nine Irish crews - comprising four men’s boats and five women’s boats - lined-up at the 2026 World Rowing Championships as the High Performance programme takes an important step towards Olympic qualification for Los Angeles in 2028.
Ireland has sent 24 athletes across nine boat classes to the 2026 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, which began on Monday and runs until this Sunday, 30 August.
With Olympic qualification beginning at the 2027 World Championships in Lucerne, Rowing Ireland says Amsterdam offers the Irish team an opportunity to discover precisely where it stands against the strongest rowing nations in the world.