Limerick rower wins silver medal at World U23 Championships

A TALENTED Limerick rower has won a silver medal as part of the Ireland Coxed men's Four crew which claimed a second place finish in their A final at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships in the Czech Republic.

UL student Ryan Spelman, of UL and St Michael's Rowing Clubs, was a key member of the Irish crew which finished second behind Italy in Saturday's final in Racice.

The Ireland crew also included Finn O'Reilly of Skibbereen, Andrew Sheehan of Lee and the Shandon pair of Adam Murphy and cox Leah O'Regan.

Ireland competed against crews from the USA, Germany, Italy, Nederlands, and France in the U23 World final. They finished with a time of 06:12.84 to take home the silver medal.

Meanwhile, another Limerick rower, UL student Rory O'Neill, of UL and Castleconnell Boat Clubs, was part of the Men's Lightweight Double Sculls crew which competed at the prestigious championships along with Eoin Gaffney of Shandon.

O'Neill and Gaffney reached Sunday's LM2x A Final after finishing second finishing second behind a German crew in Saturday's semi-final in a time of 06:23.82

The Irish crew then finished fourth in Sunday's final behind crews from German, France and Belgium. They beat the boats from Poland and Switzerland to secure the fourth-place finish with a time of 06:29.91.

Six Irish boats competed in the World Rowing Under 23 Championships. On top of the Coxed Men’s Four's silver medal success, three crews qualified for an A final and two crews for B Finals on Sunday.

A massive CONGRATULATIONS to Ryan Spelman and his mates Adam, Andrew, Finn and Leah on their brilliant performance yesterday in the final of the U23 World Rowing Championships. Bringing home a well deserved silver medal. pic.twitter.com/ws08ziiPmb

— St. Michael's Rowing (@Smrc_rowing) July 11, 2021

Rowing Ireland’s High-Performance Director, Antonio Maurogiovanni said, “I want to congratulate all of the athletes and coaches on their performances and results in the U23 World Championships this week.

"We had six crews competing this week and out of the six, four reached the A Final and two crews reached the B Final. The Coxed Men’s Four and Men’s Four both won Silver in races with very tough competition.

World Rowing U23 Championships

LM2x Race Result

Eoin Gaffney and Rory O'Neill finished fourth in the Lightweight Men's Double Sculls A Final.#wearerowingireland pic.twitter.com/TeneqiF1VA

— Rowing Ireland (@RowingIreland) July 11, 2021

"Thank you to all the athletes, coaches, clubs, and their families for their commitment and hard work in preparation for the World Championships."