Gold for O'Donovan and McCarthy bronze for Cremen and Casey

Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy have added more gold to their collect after helping Ireland to a comfortable gold medal in the lightweight men's double sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Racice, Czech Republic.

The pair were last after 700 metres, but, as usual, they were simply getting into their stride as they comfortably pulled away from their competition to cross the line well clear.

Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey have claimed a brilliant bronze for Ireland in the lightweight women's double sculls at the World Rowing Championships after a terrific battle with France.

Great Britain were clear of the field throughout as they eased to gold, with America taking silver. It was the race for third that provided the drama with Ireland and France switching positions numerous times before the Irish team prevailed.

The Irish pair were out strong over the first 400 metres and were well positioned, but the field remained a tight one.

Competing from lane two, they moved into second by the 700-metre mark but were starting to tire due to those early exploits.

That allowed America to power past while France also moved ahead, with Ireland down to fourth by 1200 metres.

But just went it looked like they were losing ground, Cremen and Casey found renewed strength to go toe-to-toe with France with the Irish duo managing to shake them off as the line approached for a brilliant medal win.

Ireland's time of 07:00.62 was just over two seconds ahead of France.

The Irish pair of Katie O'Brien and Steven McGowan missed out on a medal in the mixed double sculls final.

They were fourth last year in the European Championships, but were unable to improve their position in a competitive field that was ultimately won by Ukraine.

Poland finished in