Pušpure rowed to victory in her opening heat in Tokyo, to qualify for the Quarter Finals.
Ireland has opened its Olympic Games while 1,000s tuned in at home in Ireland at 1:30am to catch Irish rowers in action.
Friday morning :
- 01:40 Sanita Puspure Women’s Single (W1X)
- 02:40 Philip Doyle, Ronan Byrne Men’s Double (M2X)
(Image: Getty)Delight and relief was there for World Champion Puspure as the 39 year-old rowed to first place victory on Day 1 of the Olympics. Sanita finished eight seconds ahead of the field.
Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – Sanita Pušpure – 1st – 07:46.08
Her Quarter Final takes place on Monday (time tbc).
Sanita Puspure cruised to victory in her singe sculls heat this morning at #Tokyo2020. Full report: https://t.co/Md1F6N5Q2Z | #RTEsport has live TV coverage on @RTE2/@RTEplayer from 11.30am today, full coverage online and on radio https://t.co/Q8LvsKeojk
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) July 23, 2021
Sanita Pušpure raced in the Women’s Single Sculls. Ronan Byrne and Phil Doyle raced in the Men’s Double Sculls.
Silver medallists from the 2019 world championships, Ronan Byrne and Phil Doyle had high hoped but were disappointed at underperforming where they finished fourth in their heat, and in 30 degrees temperatures and progress now to the Repechage on Saturday.
Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) – Ronan Byrne & Philip Doyle – 4th – 06:14.40
Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) – Ronan Byrne & Philip DoyleSaturday 24th will be a big day for our Rowers
Saturday 24th Racing (IST)
Repechage
- Men’s Double Sculls (M2x) – Ronan Byrne & Philip Doyle – 01:40
Heats
- Women’s Pair (W2-) Monika Dukarska & Aileen Crowley – 02:10
- Lightweight Women’s Double Sculls (LW2x) – Margaret Cremen & Aoife Casey – 02:50
- Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls (LM2x) – Fintan McCarthy & Paul O’Donovan – 03:30
- Women’s Four (W4-) – Aifric Keogh, Eimear Lambe, Emily Hegarty & Fiona Murtagh – 04:00
Monday’s Racing (IST)
Quarter-Final
Women’s Single Sculls (W1x) – Sanita Pušpure – 01:00 – 01:30 (Time to be confirmed)
A great video here worth watching (by Indeed)
Sanita Puspure ( Pušpure )
ROWING
Sanita is the back-to-back World (2018- 2019) and European Champion (2019-2020), winning the women's single scull title at the 2018 World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv and defending it at the 2019 World Rowing Championships in Ottensheim in Austria.
She has never dropped outside world’s top four scullers since 2017.
The Cork rower finished fourth in quarter-finals at her two previous Olympics (2012 & 2016) and was Ireland’s only rower in London 2012.
She won bronze in this year’s World Cup II and skipped Europeans to concentrate on Tokyo.
Born in Latvia, Sanita grew up there until the age of 22, before moving to Ireland in 2006. . She initially competed for Latvia at a junior level, 1999-2003. She moved to Ireland in 2006, she now lives in Ballincollig County Cork, with her partner and 2 children.
Sanita resumed rowing in Ireland for the Old Collegians Boat Club. Sanita was coached by Phil O’Keeffe and won the Senior Sculls in the Irish National Championships in 2009 and 2010.
Now she’s in the Olympics Quarter Finals on Monday. Ireland and the Nations
Sanita Puspure Women's Singles Sculls Rowing team Ireland