Irish ambitions

3 minute read
Words Tom Ransley
Photography Steve McArthur
Published 27.07.24

It was a strong start from Ireland’s men’s double, Philip Doyle and Daire Lynch, on the first day of racing at the Olympic regatta. They evidently felt at home in the damp, grey and drizzly conditions at Vaires-sur-Marne, handily beating Spain, France and Germany to win their heat.  

The men’s double sculls has proved to be a notoriously competitive event this Olympiad but Doyle and Lynch are consistent podium performers, twice medalling at the 2024 world cup series and securing a bronze at last year’s world championships. Should they medal at Paris they will be become Ireland’s first ever openweight men’s crew to win an Olympic medal. Seán Drea, who won Ireland’s first world championships medal in 1975, came close with his fourth place finish in the men’s single sculls at the 1976 Olympic Games.

Row360 caught up with Doyle and Lynch just after their heat.

Good to get the first race under the belt. Talk us through it?

Daire Lynch (DS): It went very well. We’ve been going well in training so we knew if we could get into the rhythm we’ve been getting in training then we would truck through the middle. We expected the Spanish to go off like they did. They always do that so we weren’t too worried. We got into our rhythm pretty quickly and kept on moving through.

You might achieve something no Irish men’s openweight crew has done before. Does that add pressure?

Philip Doyle (PD): It’s always in the back of your mind. As a combination we’ve podiumed four times out of five so far. We know that [winning a medal] is in our repertoire. But you have to realise where you are and the significance of the event.

For the French it’s their Home Games, so they might have something special up their sleeve. The Spanish have been going well and we had a good tussle with the Germans at the world cup. And the Romanians were strong at the Europeans. So you never know. We haven’t raced the Americans since last year, and we’ve never raced the Serbians. Our boat class is very nip and tuck. Even to take a race win at the Olympics and to come across that line first is nice. 

We knew we needed to hit the heat and semi and put ourselves in the best position for progression. We know that lanes might count. Seeding might count. And that the early race results will count. So talk of medals is in the distance, first we need to make it into the A-Final and then we can start thinking about where we go from there.

Take it step-by-step and the big picture will take care of itself. You don’t notice each step you take and then all of a sudden you are at the top of the stairs.

What’s your next step to take come the semifinal?

DL: Doing what we’ve been doing. Hopefully our taper keeps on kicking in. Even though we did do well today we are hoping to get more from the taper. 

PD: We usually improve as the regatta goes on. Hopefully we stay true to form and feel better every day. There are few gears in there that we didn’t get to go through today. So it was nice to work through what we’ve been doing in training. It was comfortable. It was nice. We enjoyed it. 

Did you enjoy the buzz of an Olympic start line?

DL: They called the French and you can hear a big roar coming down the course. It’s only a heat! I honestly didn’t think there would be much noise coming from the grandstand today but 800m in and you can hear it straight away. At the worlds you’d hear it in the last 300, so it makes you feel like you are closer to the finish than you are. 

PD: Yesterday we did a start with the Sinkovics and a GB eight. I was actually more nervous for that because if the Sinks take us in a pair we’re in trouble! They went off like the clappers and so did we. We all stopped around the 250m – even though no one said where we were going to stop. We were bust! I looked around to Daire and said, “That was quick!” We’d jacked it four or five pips higher than normal. It was good craic. The nerves were definitely there but thankfully I got them out of the system.