ROWING:SIOBHAN McCROHAN is a qualified aeronautical engineer, but this week she might not need wings to feel the sensation of flight. The Galway woman gave the whole Ireland team a lift when she won a bronze medal in the lightweight single scull at the final World Cup regatta in Lucerne.

The regatta showed a young Ireland squad how far up the mountain they have climbed – and how far they have to go.

The new double of Lisa Dilleen and Sanita Puspure, so impressive on their debut in the first World Cup in Munich, faltered in the semi-final, hitting a buoy and missing strokes early on. Yesterday they finished fifth in the B final, 11th overall in an event where eight boats will qualify for the Olympics come the World Championships in seven weeks.

The lightweight quadruple scull, an Under-23 boat, was under two seconds off a medal in their event, and two other Irish boats had top-20 finishes.

But McCrohan was the story of the regatta for Ireland. She was a driven woman in her semi-final on Saturday. She needed to finish in the top three, and she established herself in second behind former world champion Pamela Weisshaupt and stayed there. In the final later in the day, Alexandra Tsiavou of Greece was set for gold from early on, with local favourite Weisshaupt taking silver, under some pressure from McCrohan, who held off a challenge from Jo Hammond of Belgium.

Last season McCrohan finished sixth in this final at this venue, and as she crossed the line it felt good to have taken a medal. “I haven’t got one of those before!” quipped the 24-year-old.

Ireland performance director Martin McElroy was pleased with the performance. “She raced a good race. She had a tough challenge this weekend because she was racing at 57kg so she’s giving away two kilograms to the other athletes. So that was a big plus.”

For McCrohan, who had problems making the weight earlier this season, this could be a milestone as well as a medal. The next goal is to be part of a lightweight double scull at the World Championships next month, where Ireland can qualify a boat for London. The crew average for this boat must be 57kg, but either athlete can weigh up to 59kg.

The closest Ireland crew to matching McCrohan’s medal were the lightweight quadruple scull of Shane O’Driscoll, Niall Kenny, Peter Hanily and Justin Ryan. With just six boats entered, there was a straight final on Saturday and the Irish were in the hunt for bronze until the closing stages when they were passed by Denmark. The margin was just 1.38 seconds. The race was won by Germany, with Italy second.

The quad will compete at the World Under-23 Championships in Amsterdam in two weeks, where they will be joined by Dilleen and Jonathan Mitchell in single sculls and the lightweight double scull of Sarah Dolan and Claire Lambe.

Michael Maher and Mark O’Donovan, two athletes just out of the Under-23 ranks, ended their regatta on a good note by finishing second in the D Final of the lightweight double scull – 20th overall in a field of 29 which started in the toughest of the World Cup regattas.