Rowing World Cup regattaIreland crews go into action at the final World Cup regatta in Lucerne today knowing the standard has moved up a notch from the previous World Cups at Eton and Munich.
Under coach Harald Jahrling the Ireland team has produced impressive results in the series so far, including bronze medals for the men's open four and lightweight four at Munich last month. Here they are joined by the women's lightweight double and the men's lightweight eight.
In the last big regatta before countries select their teams for the World Championships in Japan next month, the big guns have come out and the experimentation has been cut to a minimum.
Jahrling is proud of the progress his team has made so far, especially since they have prioritised the harder Olympic events. The open four, "a fresh young crew with no history", have shown Irish people having a finalist in a heavyweight class in Beijing could become a reality.
Reaching the final at both Eton and Munich was a target and they lived up to it. Here, with the likes of Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands coming into the frame, a place in the A final would be a remarkable achievement. "We set a goal and they achieved it twice," says Jahrling. "Another final appearance would be excellent."
The men's lightweight four took bronze in Munich, but with different tactics might have taken silver. Has Jahrling been working on this aspect? "I am a professional coach. Do you think I've been twiddling my thumbs?" he says, only half joking.
With Denmark and the Netherlands among the seven crews here which were not in Munich, this is a chance for the talented foursome of Eugene Coakley, Tim Harnedy, Paul Griffin and Richard Archibald to show they can take on - and beat - the best.
The Ireland line-up has been weakened by the withdrawal of Sinéad Jennings, who is resting because of a stress fracture of a rib. "If it was the world championships I would definitely have chanced it," she said, vowing to be competitive in Japan.
The team for the world championships will be picked after Lucerne, with Jahrling stressing he has not decided to send anyone as yet. "I am a man of policies," he says.
As laid out at the beginning of the season those are that Olympic-class boats have to have a real chance of making the world championship final and non-Olympic boats a place in the top three. Jennings' lightweight single scull is a non-Olympic boat.
The women's lightweight double scull here faces a formidable task if it is to be in the frame for Japan. At Munich, where there were 12 entries, Niamh Ní Cheilleachair and Heather Boyle finished seventh, winning the B final. Here there are 21 boats entered, with ambitious crews from Romania, Spain and China (who have two entries) joining the fray.
Jahrling admits so far the Ireland double has not reached the required standard to go to Gifu. "They have improved in the last three weeks," he says. "We hope that they get into the range that they can go to the World Championships."
Suggestions there are other crews outside the system who might be better than these two women irritate him. They are "far better, by a big margin" than other crews, and he deems winning performances in non World Cup regattas to be well below the standard required at the top level.
The joker in the pack for the Ireland team is the men's lightweight eight. They showed real fighting qualities at their only event so far, Henley Royal Regatta, and now they have one shot at landing a place in Japan.
They have been told by Jahrling the qualifying level for the world championships is to win here. With four crews entered, they will have a straight final on Sunday. It could be a blast!
