SKIBBEREEN rules supreme again on the world stage after a brilliant display from Paul O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy saw them secure gold medals for Ireland in the Lightweight Men's Double at the World Championships.

The West Cork club is a powerhouse in the rowing scene and for O'Donovan it was a staggering fourth gold medal, after victories in the Lightweight Men's Single in 2016 and '17 and then a Double with his brother Gary last year. 

Gary suffered a wrist injury earlier this year which along with form was why Fintan, whose twin brother Jake is also an outstanding lightweight rower, ended up paired with Paul.

"We couldn’t quite believe it but it’s always really nice to win," said Paul after. "Our start wasn’t great but we finished well. We will take a lot of confidence with this moving forward."

O'Donovan and McCarthy had already qualified for the Olympics on Thursday and then picked up the gold medal on Saturday after defeating crews from Italy and Germany in a very impressive finishing time of 06:35.280, despite a sluggish start to the race.

Meanwhille, Aileen Crowley and Monika Dukarska finished second in the women's pair B final at the World Championships to secure qualification for the Olympics, making them the fourth Irish boat to qualify for the Games.

The LM2x crew of Aoife Casey and Denise Walsh finished fifth in the C Final in a time of 07:10.520.

The Women's Four of Emily Hegarty, Tara Hanlon, Eimear Lambe and Aifric Keogh finished fourth in the W4- B Final, clocking a time of 07:02.710.

The Irish Crew were less than a second off China who took third.