McCarthy twins enjoy medal treble in Shanghai

It was truly a golden weekend for Ireland at the World Rowing Championships in Shanghai.

Ireland ended up with 2 gold medals and 2 bronze medals, with Cork rowers winning all but one of those medals.

Galway’s Fiona Murtagh won the women's singles in a nail-biting finish on Sunday. Corkonians Fintan McCarthy and Mags Cremen followed her up 30 minutes later by winning gold in the mixed double sculls to make it a super Sunday.

On Friday and Saturday a pair of Cork twins won bronze medals in separate races.

One of those was secured by Fintan McCarthy. He took bronze in the men’s double sculls on Friday with Philip Doyle. On Sunday, he claimed his second medal of the championships in the mixed double sculls alongside Cremen.

Fintan’s twin Jake also won bronze in the men's lightweight singles on Saturday to make it a very special weekend for the McCarthy twins. It was the 28 year old's first medal at a Senior World Championships.

Skibbereen’s McCarthy partnered Rochestown’s Cremen in the mixed double sculls as Ireland was represented in the event for the first time. The Irish duo won by by 0.7 of a second in a time of 6:22.24 beating early leaders the Swiss and a Dutch team that kept them honest all the way to the line.

“It was a great race, so much fun,” Fintan McCarthy said after the race. “We always train against each other, the girls in the double and I'm in the single, in some capacity, and they're always kicking my ass, so it was nice to have my ass kicked in the same boat today.”

In the single sculls, Fiona Murtagh led from start to finish winning by just three hundreths of a second from pre-race favourite Lauren Henry of Great Britain.

“I've never won a major regatta. This is huge and I'm in shock!” she told RTÉ after the race.