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Swimmer struck gold twice as rower bagged a pair of medals in an exceptional month
3 MIN READ Because there’s little that our Sportswoman of the Year judges relish more than Irish sporting success, there was a time when a month like August would have brought them no end of glee.
But now that they’re entrusted with the onerous task of choosing the outstanding Irish sportswoman in any given month, August prompted exchanges along the lines of: “Would the medals ever stop? ”Galway winning their first senior football title since 2004McSharry, Hyde, Murtagh, Adeleke or any of the outstanding performers from those Galway and Cork teams would have been shoo-ins for the August award in any other year, but the month proved to be the gift that just wouldn’t stop giving.
Racing needs will to implement the rule book when it comes to pacemakersEuropean heptathlon champion Kate O’Connor– and you can only win one monthly award in any year . Kate O’Connor celebrates after winning gold in the heptathlon in the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham last month.
Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho Requests for the award to be split between eight-ish sportswomen were turned down – once again the unkind accusation being that the judges were indecisive – but permission for a double award was, hallelujah, granted. Walshe, you’ll recall, had a magical European Swimming Aquatic Championships, winning gold in both the 200m and 400m individual medley finals.
A brilliant display it was too by the Dubliner, who executed her race with precision, moving into third after the backstroke before taking second and then hunting down long-time leader Amalie Smith over the final 100 metres.when she broke another Irish record, the 24-year-old summoning a late surge to pass Italy’s Anita Gastaldi and Belgium’s Roos Van Otterdijk to snatch gold, her underwater acceleration off the final turn a sight to behold. And she came mightily close to adding another medal to her collection when she broke her own Irish record to finish fourth in the 200m butterfly final – a mere 0.19 seconds short of a place on the podium.
Ireland’s Zoe Hyde and Margaret Cremen celebrate winning gold in the double sculls at the World Rowing Championships in the Netherlands last month. Photograph: Detlev Seyb/Inphoin Amsterdam.
And no more than Walshe in her code, they produced an exceptional finish to overtake the Dutch crew of Roos de Jong and Benthe Boonstra in the final 300 metres.in the mixed double sculls, the pair holding off the United States in a sprint finish to take second behind the Netherland’s De Jong and Simon van Dorp. A steady flow of medals, then, throughout the month. Blissful news for Irish sports fans, not so great for our judges.
And to be honest, September is already looking to be a bit of a challenge too. Would the medals ever stop?
Leinster have grounds for optimism but key exits could leave them rowing against the windJoseph O’Brien set to underline rising status as his father’s main rivalDonald Trump expected to urge Ireland to buy liquefied natural gas from US during visitDamage to homes ‘likely’ as status-orange rain warning issued for three countiesLatest news from the world of sport, along with the best in opinion from our outstanding team of sports writers
Fiona-Murtagh Rhasidat-Adeleke Galway-Gaa Cork-Gaa Ellen-Walshe Kate-O-Connor Margaret-Cremen
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