Rebeca Shorten: Belfast woman helps Great Britain win fours world title

Shorten (right) and her Great Britain team-mates were in action in Racice in the Czech Republic

Belfast rower Rebecca Shorten helped Great Britain win World Championship fours gold as Ireland's Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy retained their lightweight men double sculls title.

Shorten clinched her first world title as the dominant British finished 2.23 seconds ahead of the Netherlands.

The GB quartet of Shorten, Heidi Long, Samantha Redgrave and Rowan McKellar took control of the race after halfway.

"We knew everyone was going to bring their game today," said Shorten, 28.

"We got off to a good start, our speed was good, and I think we knew we were going to have to work hard in the second half because everyone was going to be with us but we held our cool and we did that really well," added Shorten.

"We didn't lose our heads in the middle of the race, and we just kept going."

With the Netherlands taking silver, the medal places were completed by Olympic champions Australia.

GB four add world to European gold

The world gold completed a superb first season for the four GB rowers who remained unbeaten throughout and had won the European title last month and they have set down a marker to the rest of the world with less than two years to the Paris Olympics.

Despite trailing to the fast-starting Australians and with the Dutch and China in contention the GB boat, stroked by Shorten, moved to the front by the halfway mark and gradually, but with confidence, rowed away to a winning margin of just over a boat length.

"Each race we knew we had to improve to stay on top of the field. This has been a long year, long season, and next year with the Olympic qualification it will be another huge one. But right now, I am a bit speechless," added Shorten.

The Irish four, bronze medallists from the Olympics last year, finished in sixth and last place, with the crew of Aifric Keogh, Elmer Lambe, Fiona Murtagh and Emily Hegarty, never in the hunt for the medals.

Ireland's Olympic champions Paul O'Donovan (right) and Fintan McCarthy (left) continued their domination of the lightweight men's double sculls in Racice

The rest of the world tried to take the race to the Olympic and World champions Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy in the men's lightweight double sculls final.

The Irish duo were last at the 500m mark but by halfway had moved through the field to first.

O'Donovan and McCarthy then raised the rate again to move a length clear as they dominated the closing stages to win by clear water from Italy and Ukraine.

It's a third world title for O'Donovan in the lightweight double sculls to go with two more in the lightweight singles sculls.

There was also a bronze medal for Ireland in the lightweight women's double sculls as Aoife Casey and Margaret Cremen held off France to finish third behind the world champions from Great Britain's Emily Craig and Imogen Grant.

The Ireland men's four were involved in a thrilling 'B' final with half a second separating the top three. Germany squeezed home in first place ahead of Ireland with Poland in third.

The Irish quartet includes Nathan Timoney from Enniskillen and Kinawley's Ross Corrigan, both students at Queen's University, and along with Jack Dorney and John Kearney were making their senior international debuts this week.

Their final ranking of eighth bodes well for next year where the culmination of the 2023 season will be the World Championships in Belgrade were the majority of places for the Paris Olympics will be handed out.