DAIRE LYNCH AND Philip Doyle got their Olympics campaign off to a blistering start by winning their heat in the men’s double sculls, clocking the fastest time across all the heats.

Rowing in lane three of Heat 3, Lynch and Doyle crossed over in a time of 6:13.24. Ireland were in third place after the opening 500m with Spain leading the way while France were in second. But the Ireland duo gradually cut through the gap and were tussling with the Spanish boat for the lead at the 1,000m mark. 

They were the comfortable leaders coming into the final 500m and progressed to the semi-finals as comprehensive winners.

“It actually felt great,” Doyle told RTÉ Sport’s David Gillick after their heat. “That’s probably the most nervous race of the whole regatta because you don’t know what everyone’s done in the last few months. You don’t know where they are or you maybe haven’t raced a few of the crews.

'We were never too worried about what they were doing... We just stuck within our boat'

Daire Lynch and Philip Doyle very satisfied after their double sculls heat victory this morning#rtesport #paris2024
📱Report https://t.co/4gry3SqIBS
📺Watch https://t.co/b2OI4OoWVJ pic.twitter.com/qdvT0dxyPy

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) July 27, 2024

“That kind of sorts everyone out. You roll the dice and see where everyone is. So, it’s nice to come out with one of the faster times. The race went exactly as we thought it would. We were able to ease up a little bit at the end and enjoy the last 500m. Nothing was certain but Daire made some great calls and really enjoyed that.”

Lynch added that they knew the Spanish team would make a strong start but that they were confident in their own race plan.

“I don’t think we were ever too worried about what they were doing because we were going very quick off the start. If we went off at that speed, there’s no way we could have kept it up. We stuck within our boat and were fairly confident in the last 500m that we were going to keep going.”

Alison Bergin and Zoe Hyde. Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO

Ireland’s Zoe Hyde and Alison Bergin have also advanced to the semi-finals after clocking a time of 6:52.61 to finish third in Heat 2 of the women’s double sculls. With the top three guaranteed a qualification spot from the heat, Hyde and Bergin appeared to struggle in the early stages of the race and looked to be heading for the repechage on Sunday morning, as the Australian crew took the lead.

However, Ireland began to accelerate at the halfway mark to nudge ahead of Lithuania into third and held that position to soar into the semi-finals.

Written by Sinead Farrell and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.