European Rowing Championships: Ireland's Sanita Puspure retains single skulls title

Puspure is expected to challenge for gold at next summer's rescheduled Olympics

Ireland's Sanita Puspure retained her Women's Single Sculls title at the rescheduled European Rowing Championships in Poznan.

The two-time world champion seized control before the halfway mark and increased her lead in the last 1000m to ensure there was clear water between herself and Austria's Magdalena Lobnig at the finish line.

Puspure, a likely favourite for Olympic gold had the Games gone ahead, capped a strong showing from Ireland who also won three bronze medals.

In the men's double sculls Ronan Byrne and Daire Lynch produced a final 500m sprint that was enough to see off the challenge of Poland to make the podium and nearly catch Switzerland for silver, with the Netherlands pulling away as clear winners.

Lynch was stepping in for Banbridge's Philip Doyle who along with Byrne was a world silver medallist in 2019.

Doyle continues to work for the NHS after putting rowing on hold when the Olympics were postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He will return to full training in the new year to prepare for Tokyo next summer.

The women's four claimed bronze after a tight battle with Italy for second place

The new combination of Aifric Keogh, Eimear Lambe, Aileen Crowley and Fiona Murtagh showed their potential to claim bronze in the women's four.

While they were unable to go with the pace of the Dutch who went on to win comfortably they battled Italy all the way to the line and were just edged out of second place.

However this was an encouraging result for the quartet and their priority in 2021 will be to qualify for the Olympics at one of the two qualification regattas that remain.

Ireland's other bronze medal was won by Fintan McCarthy in the lightweight men's single sculls.