World Championships bronze for Doyle and McCarthy
Philip Doyle and Fintan McCarthy won bronze in the men’s double sculls
- Published
Olympic medallists Philip Doyle and Fintan McCarthy won bronze in the men’s double sculls final at the World Championships in Shanghai.
The Irish combination from Banbridge and Skibbereen, sculling together in competition for the first time, were in the mix for the medals from the start of the race.
However, Miroslaw Zietarski and Mateusz Biskup from Poland eased away to take gold, followed by the Serbian duo, Martin Mackovic and Nikolaj Pimenov.
Doyle and McCarthy held on to take a comfortable third place.
"It's our fourth race together; we enjoyed it," Doyle said.
"I think every race we go we're learning, we have very different styles so we're trying to mesh that in, but some step up against the big boys.
"Every time we go out we feel better - the legs feel better, the boat feels better, everything feels better. So, delighted today."
The final did not develop as expected. From the start the Olympic champions, Romania, were left trailing at the back of the field and never recovered while Poland took an early lead, chased by Ireland, Serbia and Switzerland.
As the race passed halfway at 1000m, the Polish crew began to move away to a clear water advantage, leaving the rest to compete for the minor medals.
Doyle and McCarthy were eventually overhauled by Serbia in the final 500m but were worthy bronze medallists.
It’s the third world medal for Doyle following a silver in 2019 in Linz and bronze two years ago in Belgrade before he went on to claim a superb bronze at the Paris Olympics.
With no lightweight rowing at the next Games in Los Angeles, it meant McCarthy, a three-time world gold medallist and twice an Olympic champion with Paul O’Donovan, has had to become a heavyweight.
The two men only came together as a partnership a couple of months ago so as the next Olympic cycle begins, third place is an excellent result.
However, with decisions on the future yet to be taken by O’Donovan and Doyle’s partner from Paris last year, Daire Lynch, as to whether they are continuing to LA there is likely to be a reset over the winter by Rowing Ireland as they plan ahead for the next three years.