COLERAINE native Hannah Scott was thrilled as she helped Team GB claim gold in a gripping women’s quadruple sculls final yesterday.
They edged out the Netherlands to win gold by just 0.15 seconds, while Germany picked up the bronze medal.
“It’s been a long time in the making,’’ said Scott.
‘’I still can’t quite believe it. I don’t know if I’m emotional yet but that will come. I think we were so process-driven today and the immensity of what this is, it hasn’t caught up with me.
“The crew today were amazing. We kept it so cool to the end. We had the confidence, we’ve done so many hard miles in training and for anyone out there just go for it.
“If you think you can, you might just do it one day, and that’s the really cool thing about the Olympics.”
Ireland’s Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney qualified for tomorrow morning’s men’s pairs final by finishing in third spot in their semi-final. Their time of 6:32.22 was faster than the one they recorded in the heats and saw them finish behind European champions Romania and Team GB.
“I think the medal was on our minds from day one. From the world champs final, we set out at the start of the season for the gold medal,” said Fermanagh native Timoney.
“I think where we are right now, we’re in a good position to learn from the heat and learn from today, and really push on, give a good race plan together and go for the gold medal.”
Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan will also row for gold tomorrow after they comfortably won their semi-final of the lightweight double sculls, finishing ahead of Switzerland and Czech Republic.
Mags Cremen and Aoife Casey likewise made it past the semi-finals of the women’s lightweight double scull as they finished in third position, coming in behind Romania and Greece.
In badminton, Dublin’s Nhat Nguyen’s lost by two games to nil to defending Olympic champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark in the men’s singles, while Rachael Darragh bowed out after suffering defeat to 2016 goal medallist Carolina Marin.
Just 36 hours after winning Ireland’s first medal of the Paris Olympic Games, 100m breaststroke bronze medallist Mona McSharry made it through to another semi-final in the 200m breaststroke. That semi-final took place late last night.
In sailing, Dublin duo Robert Dickson and Seán Waddilove remain in the silver medal position in the men’s skiff. They are among ten boats to have qualified for today’s finale and a fourth-place finish or higher would guarantee the pair a medal of some description.
