World Championships: NI rowers Timoney, Corrigan, Shorten & Scott book Olympic berths

Ireland's Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney needed a top-three finish in their Belgrade semi-final to reach the World Championships final and secure Ireland's Olympic berth in the class

Four Northern Ireland rowers qualified their boats for the Paris Olympics next summer on a successful day of semi-finals at the World Championships on the Sava river in Belgrade.

Fermanagh duo Nathan Timoney and Ross Corrigan held off everyone bar world champions Romania to clinch second, Olympic qualification for Ireland and a place in the men's pair World Final.

Belfast's Rebecca Shorten and Coleraine's Hannah Scott both helped their Great Britain boats secure Olympic berths.

Defending world champion Shorten stroked the Great Britain women's four to a dominant win in their semi-final as Scott led the GB women's quad sculls to victory in their semi-final as well and both women can now look forward to their second Olympic Games.

Timoney and Corrigan have come of age at the elite level of world rowing in a very short period of time after only competing together in the men's pair for the last three months.

Reaching the final at the Lucerne World Cup in July in their debut in the men's pair was one thing, but it is quite the achievement under the pressure of trying to qualify for the Olympics to row the way they have this week.

'It feels unbelievable' - Timoney

In the semi-final, with the top three to make the A Final and secure a place in Paris next summer, they went out hard and by halfway were only headed by the Romanians.

In a frantic sprint to the finish, they held off the defending world silver medallists from Spain and South Africa to finish second and punch their Olympics ticket.

"It feels unbelievable," said Timoney after he and his fellow Fermanagh man booked their place in Saturday's final.

"The last three years to come back from a key injury. This is the dream; the dream has come true for me to qualify for the Olympics.

"It was a tough, tough race and not easy in those tough conditions. You can't get any worse than that. And going to the last 500 metres, you could feel the legs burning, the lactic building.

"We knew we had it in us. We gave everything we got and the results to show. The focus now goes to Saturday. We'll try and go for that medal. It doesn't stop here. So step one done."

Corrigan added: "I trusted Nathan every step of the way and he knew I was backing him up. So coming into that last 500 he called, we're going to do it and we just went."

Belfast rower Rebecca Shorten (left) stroked the Great Britain women's four to a dominant victory in their semi-final in Belgrade

The Great Britain women's four have been off the pace so far this season but they looked to have put that right at their pre-worlds training camp in Varese.

Shorten and her crew colleagues led from start to finish, opening up clear water by the 500m mark, and left the rest of the field including the Irish quartet in their wake in a statement performance.

"It was really good today just to know straight away that we qualified. It was like, okay, that's one job done. Next one is the final on Saturday," Shorten.

"It means a lot. I mean we've had obviously a very good last couple of years, we had a really good year last year. It's just like another stepping stone.

"We maybe didn't have the best lead into this championship this year, but we've had a really good camp leading into it.

"I think it just gets a bit more exciting, like we know the boats now qualified and that we're one step closer to next year.

"Today I think it's probably the most nerve-wracking race because there's quite a lot to lose today," added the Belfast rower.

Hannah Scott and her GB women's quad sculls crew mates won their World Championship semi-final to secure Olympic qualification for their country

Scott led the Great Britain women's quad sculls to another tape-to-tape win.

They drove out fast from the start and held their challengers at bay throughout the race and had clear water at the finish. They have turned their attention to winning a world title already.

"To be fair for us, we were just trying to get the job done today and for us the lane draw was very important for us for the final," said Scott.

"Our job, this regatta, has been to place as high as we can. The qualifying place was great, but that's just job done for us, like tick box. And now the fun begins."

Scott described the prospect of competing in the GB qualified boat in Paris as "exciting".

"The first one definitely came off the back of Covid it came in the last year in the delayed cycle," said the Coleraine woman.

"But, yeah, this one, I really feel like I'm earning every spot and just qualifying the boat there, I don't take that for granted.

"We came into this regatta, and I think we were looking for the top. I think if we get it right on the day on Saturday, we should be there or thereabouts, but everything has to align, and the legs have to feel good."

Tokyo champions book Paris berth

Ireland also qualified two other boats for Paris. The defending Olympic champions in the men's lightweight double sculls, Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy, will have the opportunity to defend their gold medal after winning their semi-final.

"It's nice for sure, to book the ticket now at this stage makes next year a bit easier and we can just focus on peaking at the right time," O'Donovan.

The women's pair of Fiona Murtagh and Aifric Keogh are also Paris bound after finishing second in their semi-final while Ireland's women's four and lightweight double missed out on securing A final spots and will hope to secure their Olympic spots via the B finals in Belgrade.