Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy ease into World Rpwing C'ship semis

Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy powered into semi-finals of the lightweight men's double at the World Rowing Championships in Belgrade on Wednesday.

The Irish duo go into Thursday's semis with the fastest time and will be heavily fancied to progress further.

The Italian double of Gabriel Soares and Stefano Oppo held the lead to the 1000m mark, but through the third quarter O'Donovan and McCarthy eased ahead.

They face Mexico, Poland, Norway, Belgium and the Czech Republic in the semi-final with the top three getting a confirmed spot in the Paris Olympic Games.

Birthday boy Nathan Timoney is into the top 12 men's pairs with pair partner Ross Corrigan.

Their second-placed finish was enough to progress them to Thursday's A/B semi-finals. The Enniskillen rowers moved into second after the halfway point and finished with the fastest final 500m. World Cup III bronze medallists Andrin Gulich and Roman Roeoesli from Switzerland took the win.

The men's double of Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch also go through to the A/B semis after coming second in their quarter-final.

The crews from Ireland and Germany went back and forth through the middle of the race, with Ireland pulling ahead in the final quarter to finish behind Stefan Broenink and Melvin Twellaar of the Netherlands. On Friday they race Norway, Spain, Croatia, New Zealand and Germany for a spot in the final.

Skibbereen's Jake McCarthy finished fifth in the quarter-final of the lightweight men's scull, sending him through to the C/D semi-final. Just the top three scullers progressed to the A/B semi. McCarthy races again on Thursday afternoon.

With windy conditions forecast for Thursday, the race schedule has been moved forward to allow for fair competition.

Five Irish crews have the