Women's four Olympic-bound but heartbreak for Sanita Puspure at final qualifier

The Irish women's four of Emily Hegarty, Natalie Long, Eimear Lambe and Imogen Magner will again fight for an Olympic medal after securing a place in Paris at the final qualification regatta.

Emily Hegarty, Natalie Long, Eimear Lambe and Imogen Magner needed to finish in the top two of the A final to book their Olympic spot and while that rarely looked in doubt they did it in style, pipping Denmark by just .79 of a second from after a neck-and-neck battle over the final 1500m.

Lambe and Hegarty won bronze in the event in Tokyo with Fiona Murtagh and Aifric Keogh, who secured a place this time as the women's pair, one of an Olympic record seven boats qualified for Ireland, one more than in 2021.

However, Sanita Puspure missed out on a fourth consecutive Olympic appearance after misfortune struck and she finished fifth in the women's single sculls A final.

The 42-year-old Cork-based rower went out hard and led Spain's Virginia Diaz Rivas, who had also won her heat and semi-final, by over three seconds at the halfway stage, having covered the opening 1000m in 03:50.70.

Former World and European champion Puspure was still almost two seconds ahead with 500m to go but then appeared to hit a buoy and stop rowing, eventually finishing in 08:03.05 as Rivas (07:48.16) and home favourite Aurelia-Maxima Katharina Janzen (07:49.85) took first and second.

Konan Pazzaia was sixth in the men's single sculls A final.

Third in his semi-final yesterday, the 22-year-old made a fast start in his native country, hitting the front after 500m and was second at the halfway mark, just behind eventual winner Mihai Chiruta of Romania.

However, Pazzaia, whose mother is from Belfast, was being reeled in by the field as the race progressed and finished in