More world rowing gold for McCarthy and O'Donovan

Fintan McCarthy and Paul O'Donovan have won the gold medal in the lightweight double sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Belgrade.

The reigning Olympic champions retained their world title, a fourth in a row for O'Donovan and third for McCarthy, reeling in Switzerland and holding off a late charge from Italy, who claimed bronze.

Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney won a superb bronze medal in the men's pair.

The Irish duo assumed the early lead and were a few metres ahead of Great Britain at the 500 mark.

By the halfway stage they were 5m clear of Switzerland with favourites GB back in third.

The Swiss inched ahead at 1500m and started to pull clear, meaning Corrigan and Timoney were now in a battle for silver.

Ireland's Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney have won bronze in the Men's Pair at the World Rowing Championships in Belgrade #WorldRowingChamps pic.twitter.com/taUeioL3WM

It looked like the Irish men would hang on but Tom George and Oliver Wynne-Griffith caught them just before the line.

Corrigan and Timoney had already secured a big prize in their first season together by earning qualification for Paris 2024 off their semi-final performance.

Aifric Keogh and Fiona Murtagh were fourth in the women's pair A final.

The duo, who previously won Olympic bronze as part of the women's four at Tokyo 2020, had already clinched a spot at next year's games by finishing second in their semi-final.

At the halfway stage, the Dutch duo of Ymkje Clevering and Veronique Clevering had pulled over a length clear of Australia with Romania, the USA and then Ireland battling for bronze.

Keogh and Murtagh had moved up to fourth by the 1500m mark but Romania then closed the gap to Australia, who pushed the Netherlands close and the Irish were a