BY HARRY WALSH
LETTERKENNY rower Sinead Jennings edged ever closer to securing a place in next year’s Rio Olympics in Aiguebelette, France, earlier today.
Jennings (38) and Claire Lambe came home fourth in their lightweight women’s double semi-final, agonisingly missing out on a final berth by less than half a second.
However, if the crew finish anywhere but last in today’s B final they will qualify for Rio 2016.
Securing an Olympic qualifying spot would be a dream come true for the mother of three who is joined in France this week by her parents Michael and Teresa and younger sister Caitriona who ran for Ireland in the marathon at the London Olympics.
“We were unfortunate. We were only half a second off third place and that would have got us into the ‘A’ final and a chance of a medal tomorrow.
“We had a really, really good race. We were very strong through the middle of it and unfortunately we didn’t have a strong enough sprint finish. We have only been together a short time and that takes some time to develop.
“If we could add that to our really good race for next year, we could be in with a shout of a medal then and that’s what I’m looking at now.
“We just need to go out tomorrow and make sure we quality the boat for Rio. It really is exciting, I’m so proud of us as a crew and the work we have done with our coach. It has been great,” she said.
A doctor based in Limerick, the Hawthorn Heights native has relocated to Cork with her husband Sam Lynch and their three young daughters in her quest to secure qualification.
Meanwhile, Carndonagh’s Karol Doherty (City of Derry) finished fourth in his repechage of the Arms and Shoulders single sculls and followed that up with a third place finish in the C/D semi-finals. He was due to race in C Final yesterday afternoon.