Mags Cremen from Cork and Zoe Hyde from Kerry won gold for Ireland in the women's double sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam Pic: Benedict Tufnell/Sportsfile
Mags Cremen and Zoe Hyde won a sensational gold medal for Ireland in the women's double sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam.
Cork's Cremen and Kerry's Hyde overhauled reigning world champions the Netherlands in a thrilling final 250m to claim victory. Switzerland took the bronze medal.
Ireland finished in 6:43.48, 1.03 seconds ahead of the Dutch crew, Roos de Jong and Benthe Boonstra, while Switzerland's Salome Ulrich and Fabienne Schweizer were a further four seconds back.
The victory is the latest step up the ladder for a relatively new crew. They won the B final at last year's worlds in Shanghai and claimed bronze at the World Cup in Seville earlier this year – a clear mark of their progression.
"There's such disbelief, to be honest," said an overjoyed Cremen.
"Oh my God. It went so quickly. It really is a dream come true. From the second we got to Amsterdam, we just had this belief in ourselves and just kept it the whole way. It's just amazing."
Hyde added: "It was so tight, holding on for dear life, but we held on. When we were warming up, [the crowd] were cheering 'Ireland' and it just gave me goosebumps and I thought 'we have to do it for them.'
"We have just developed such an amazing partnership that I trust Mags to the end and I know she'll trust me till the end. I think we just kept believing, believing in ourselves, and it just worked out."
Earlier, Fiona Murtagh and Fintan McCarthy progressed to the single sculls semi-finals.
Reigning world champion Murtagh led her quarter-final from start to finish as she claimed the win in 7:20.80 ahead of Switzerland's Aurelia-Maxima Katharina Janzen, who was 0.91 seconds behind and Australia's Tara Rigney, a further 5.29 seconds back.
Great Britain's European champion Lauren Henry won the first quarter-final with Dutch Olympic champion Karolien Florijn in second and Brazil's Beatriz Tavares in third while Serbia's Jovana Arsic took the second quarter-final with USA's Lauren O'Connor the runner-up and South Africa's Paige Badenhorst in third. In the fourth quarter-final, Lithuania's Olympic bronze medallist Viktorija Senkute claimed the win with Ukraine's Kateryna Dudchenko taking second after passing Germany's Alexandra Foester.
Two-time Olympic lightweight double sculls champion McCarthy continued his transition to the openweight category by securing a place in the semi-finals. The Corkman finished third in his quarter-final.
McCarthy was third after 500m and held that position to the finish (6:51.28), as Germany's Olympic champion Oliver Zeidler claimed the win (6:46.48) and Switzerland's Kai Schaetzle (6:48.20) took second.
2025 World Championship bronze medallist Yauheni Zalaty won the first quarter-final ahead of Aleksandr Kovalskii and Bastian Secher. The third quarter-final was won by Jonas Slettemark Juel while world champion Stefanos Ntouskos was beaten to the runner-up spot by Bruno Cetraro. USA's Sam Melvin won the fourth quarter-final with Victor Marcelot in second and Mihai Chiruta in third.
