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In very high temperatures, Turkey’s Halil Kaan Koroglu set a blistering early pace, but the eventual medal winners kept their cool. By the final quarter, it was between Austria, Uruguay and Ireland, with Felipe Kluver Ferreira sprinting away to take gold, a first medal at this level for Uruguay. Austria’s Julian Schoeberl held on for the silver ahead of McCarthy, who made personal history with his bronze. “First medal on the world stage, so I’m hugely delighted,” McCarthy told World Rowing. “It was a tough one, it was kind of different to other regattas in that it was more trying to handle the heat as well as everything else. Luckily I had such a good support staff this year that helped me out giving me all the tips. I probably pestered them a lot with all the questions. But luckily was able to get a medal in the end. So, delighted.” McCarthy, who won his medal from an outside lane, has kept his international career going despite having a bad run with injuries. Siobhán McCrohan’s semi-final win had gained her a centre lane in her final of the lightweight single, but she left it too late to make her move and finished fourth. Mexico’s Kenia Lechuga sculled strongly and led in the early stages, but it was Michelle Sechser of the United States who raced to the gold, with China’s Pan Dandan second and Lechuga third. Tiarnán O’Donnell and Sadhbh Ní Laoghaire finished out their programme with third in the B Final of the PR2 Mixed Double. Uzbekistan won with a quite extraordinary performance: they never dipped below 40 strokes per minute over the 2,000 metres. Ireland have a chance of two more medals on Sunday. Fiona Murtagh competes in the women’s single sculls final at 7.17 am and, should they make it through their heat, Fintan McCarthy and Mags Cremen will race in the mixed double final at 7.44.
