Historic gold medal for Limerick teenager at the World Rowing Championships in Lithuania

LIMERICK teenager Jack Rafferty has won a gold medal at the 2025 U19 World Rowing Championships this Sunday.

The St Michael's Rowing Club member partnered with Jonah Kirby of Kenmare RC to win the Junior Men’s Double title at the championships in Trakai, Lithuania.

The duo made history by securing Rowing Ireland’s first-ever medal in a men’s event at the U19 World Championships.

At the 500-metre mark, Rafferty Kirby began to push away from the field and had clear water by 900 metres. Their lead continued to grow throughout the race, and they crossed the line with two lengths of clear water in a time of 06:39.57. 

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The duo had also won their heat and semi-final enroute to their historic gold medal success.

"It's super - it's very hard worked for, and I think we deserved it the whole way through," beamed Ardscoil Ris student Rafferty when speaking with World Rowing after the success.

"I've been waiting for this for years and it's an unreal feeling - it's amazing to be able to represent the grene jersey on its own, so to be able to win a gold medal is just a different type of feeling. I actually can't process it yet," he said. 

"The Greeks beat us in the Europeans so we knew they would go off hard and the same with Germany as they are a big crew in a headwind so we said we would try dominate from the start and push the whole way through and squeeze the legs," outlined the Limerick rowing star.

It has been quite a summer for Rafferty. Back in July at the National Championships, he completed a triple of junior doubles, singles and quads titles.

Rafferty was one of three rowers from St Michael's Rowing Club to represent Limerick at the world championships.

Evan O’Byrne was part of the Junior Men’s Quadruple Scull, along with Harry McCartney (Methodist College RC), Bill Murphy (Cappoquin RC) and Mattias Cogan (Skibbereen RC).

They won the B Final. Sitting in second after the first 500 metres, the crew moved into the lead in the second quarter and held their position despite late sprint finishes from Belgium and France. They crossed the line in 06:20.48.

Cloda Phillips was in the Junior Women’s Four, along with Sarah Rockett (Athlone BC), Isabella Wright (Enniskillen Royal BC), and Anna O’Grady (Athlone BC). They placed 2nd in this morning’s B Final. The crew led through the halfway mark, but a strong push from Croatia in the second half saw them cross the line in second place. They recorded a time of 07:24.55.