Rowers Philip Doyle and Hannah Scott off to perfect starts in Olympic Games
Northern Ireland’s Philip Doyle and Hannah Scott recorded winning starts in Paris on day one of the Olympic Games.
Banbridge’s Doyle teamed up with Daire Lynch for Team Ireland in the men’s double sculls to book a semi-final spot off heat victory at Vaires-sur-Marne.
They can now bypass Sunday’s repechages to focus on the last-four meeting scheduled for Tuesday.
With the fastest time from across the three heats of 6:13.24, Doyle and Lynch have managed to secure a favourable semi-final lane draw.
“It was good, we got a lot of confidence from it,” said Doyle. “It was nice to just work on our race and then we came through in the middle just as we had planned.
“We knew that they would come off hot, and we just focused on ourselves and worked through the middle.
"Daire made some nice calls to push in the middle and we just started moving away from the other boats and that just gave us more confidence and then we kind of knew it was done and sealed from the 1500.
"It's only the first step of three, so we just need to take some confidence from this going forward and bring that into the semi-final.”
On Tuesday, the semi-final will start at 10.10am – with the B and A finals planned for Wednesday, August 1 at, respectively, 9.42am and 10.30am.
Coleraine’s Hannah Scott helped Team GB reach the women’s quadruple sculls A final with victory from seat two alongside Lola Anderson, Georgie Brayshaw and Lauren Henry.
The boat – considered strong contenders for gold – opened the Olympic Games bid with an assured display to record 6:13.35 and reach Wednesday’s medal showdown as the fastest heat time.
The A final is scheduled to start on Wednesday at 11.14am.