ROWING: Mission accomplished. Ireland booked two places at next year's Olympic Games in emphatic fashion in Milan yesterday, writes Liam Gorman in Milan

The men's lightweight double and lightweight four needed to garner places in the top 11 here to secure the Athens spots, but both won their semi-finals and moved confidently into their A finals, placing them in the world's top six and in serious contention for medals on Sunday.

The double of Sam Lynch and Gearóid Towey crossed the line first, after holding off challenges from Australia and then France, and they only had to wait a few minutes before the youthful four joined them.

It was an emotional moment. "Someone said: 'you are looking at six Olympians'. It is the first time ever we have qualified two Olympic boats the year before the Games," said Lynch.

"It was the best morning of my life since 2001 in Lucerne, when we won three (World Championship) golds," the Limerick man said.

The double had held off challenges from Australia, and then fast-finishing France, to complete their win. Although the Australians led at 1,000 and 1,500 metres, the Irish crew knew they had superior finishing speed, and Lynch and Towey covered the late sprint of France which took them past the Australians to take the second available A final place.

"We had control at 1,250 metres even though we were not in the lead," said Lynch. "I know that sounds arrogant."

Lynch's tactic of winning every race you can so that opponents spend their time worrying about you seems to have rubbed off on the four.

In their heat they pushed the fancied Italians right to the finish; they won their repêchage by leading virtually all the way, and they repeated that performance yesterday in the semi-final.

Canada, bronze medallists last year, proved the main threat to their superiority through the bulk of the race, but the Netherlands finished quickly and the Irish had less than a half a second to spare over them. Canada held third to also make the A final.

Was getting out in front and staying there a tactic?

"We decided to row the way we have been since we got here," replied Richard Archibald. "We would row our own race and not worry about anyone else - if we were in front we would stay there, but if we trailed we would stay at it."

This is a young crew to be making such waves in a big event - at 25, Archibald is the oldest, Eugene Coakley is 24, Paul Griffin 23 and Tim Harnedy has just turned 21. But Griffin expressed frustration at mention of this fact, and said they all had won medals at the World under-23 Championships and it was time they moved up.

"We should expect to get senior medals," the Muckross man said. "I'll be 24 in three days (on Monday)," he added, pointing out that Elia Luini, one of the all-conquering Italian lightweight double which Towey and Lynch will face on Sunday, won a World Championship gold only a year out of junior ranks.

This refusal to seek excuses and the belief that the Irish should be as confident as any other nation was even more emphatically expressed by Towey: "When the other crews look at our names on an entry they won't be going 'yes' anymore - they'll be going 'oh, damn'."

One huge advantage for the four is that they can now gain what Griffin calls "vital experience" in an A final in a major event. Lynch is looking even further than that for the double, however.

"The aim is to win the Olympic Games. We are playing for keeps. People like (walker) Gillian O'Sullivan are leading the way. Medals are what we want," said the man who won the world title in the lightweight single scull title in the last two years.

The one aspect of the the Irish plan which hasn't come to fruition concerns the women's programme, a source of some critical comment from sources in the Irish Amateur Rowing Union.

The injury-hit women's lightweight double failed to qualify a boat for the Olympics and yesterday, the third member of the group, Heather Boyle, saw her hopes of a medal in the lightweight single disappear.

She needed to be in the top three to make the A final, and held fourth at both 1,000 and 1,500 metres. But at the finish she faded back to sixth and goes in the B final early today.

Brian Young's fifth in the equivalent men's race sees him go to the C final today because of the bigger entry in the men's event.

"It was a very good semi-final," he said. "But I wouldn't have got through in the others either."

MEN

Lightweight Four - Semi-Finals (First three to A final) - Semi-Final One: 1 Ireland (R Archibald, E Coakley, T Harnedy, P Griffin) 6:00.82, 2 Netherlands (G Van Der Linden, I Snijders, K Dormans, J De Groot) 6:01.29, 3 Canada (D Vandor, J Beare, J Mandick, G Hassett) 6:02.63; 4 Australia 6:04.09, 5 Russia 6:06.44, 6 Poland 6:14.39. Semi-Final Two: 1 Denmark (T Kristensen, T Ebert, S Moelvig, E Ebbesen) 5:58.62, 2 Italy (L Bertini, C Amarante, S Amitrano, B Mascarenhas) 5:59.90, 3 Germany (M Mueller-Falcke, A Schuster, S Locher, A Bech) 6:00.82; 4 Spain 6:04.11, 5 USA 6:05.29, 6 Britain 6:16.49.

Lightweight Double Scull - Semi-Finals (Two to A final, two to B final, two to C final) - Semi-Final One: 1 Italy (E Luini, L Pettinari) 6:18.24, 2 Poland (T Kucharski, R Scyz) 6:20.51; 3 Spain (R Alvarez Hoyos, J Zunzunegui Guimerans) 6:22.18, 4 Denmark (M Rasmussen, R Quist) 6:23.36; 5 USA (R Tucker, G Ruckman) 6:27.48, 6 Canada (J Bujas, M Jensen) 6:35.58. Semi-Final Two: 1 Ireland (S Lynch, G Towey) 6:22.07, 2 France (F Dufour, 2 F Moreau) 6:22.57; 3 Australia (A Edwards, H Karrasch) 6:23.22, 4 Japan (K Ura, D Takeda) 6:26.74; 5 New Zealand (N Terrey, D Grant) 6:29.32, 6 Russia (A Shevel, D Moiseyev) 6:31.09. Semi-Final Three: 1 Hungary (Z Hirling, T Varga) 6:22.13, 2 Germany (I Euler, M Brehmer) 6:22.62; 3 Switzerland (S Aerni, M Gier) 6:24.76, 4 Greece (N Skiathitis, V Polymeros) 6:25.42; 5 Belgium (W Van Der Fraenen, J Gevaert) 6:27.53, 6 China (J Tian, Z Zhu) 6:30.94.

Lightweight Single Scull - Semi-Finals (Two to A final, two to B final, two to C final) - Semi-Final One: 1 Britain (T Kay) 7:00.52, 2 Slovenia (B Pislar) 7:01.96; 3 Czech Republic (M Vabrousek) 7:02.54, 4 Russia (V Varfolomeyev) 7:12.o3; 6 Hong Kong (Hiu Fung Law) 7:13.73, 6 Algeria (M Aich) 7:18.64. Semi Final Two: 1 Germany (P Ording) 7:05.13, 2 Hungary (C Denes) 7:06.37; 3 Australia (G Jelbart) 7:09.33, 4 USA (A Liverman) 7:13.23; 5 Ireland (B Young) 7:14.25, 6 Guatemala (E Nanne Nanne) 7:32.57. Semi-Final Three: 1 Italy (S Basalini) 7:00.51, 2 Slovakia (L Podstupka) 7:02.63; 3 Portugal (P Pereira) 7:03.29, 4 Denmark (M Nielsen) 7:06.27; 5 Chile (A Gonzalez Carvajal) 7:34.70, 6 Bulgaria (K Kolimechkov) 7:43.15.

Women

Lightweight Single Scull - Semi-Finals (First three to A final; second three to B final) - Semi-Final One: 1 Germany (J Raduenzel) 7:48.97, 2 China (Q Li) 7:49.68, 3 Spain (L Guillen Cruz) 7:51.95; 4 Denmark (K Jepsen) 7:52.00, 5 Switzerland (L Fluri) 7:53.32, 6 Ireland (H Boyle) 7:57.68. Semi-Final Two: 1 Canada (F Milne) 7:41.65, 2 Croatia (M Rajle) 7:48.21, 3 Czech Republic (N Nachazelova) 7:52.78; 4 Finland (S Sten) 7:54.87, 5 Tunisia (I Trimech) 7:55.87, 6 Netherlands (M Klinkers) 7:59.76.