Two World Championship medals for Cork rowing sensation Mags Cremen

Cork rower Mags Cremen will depart the World Rowing Championships with two medals.

Cremen and Zoe Hyde won a sensational gold medal for Ireland in the women's double sculls at the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam on Friday.

Then on Sunday, after Fiona Murtagh picked up a silver in the single sculls, Cremen returned to the podium alongside Konan Pazzaia after coming second in the mixed double sculls. Last year Cremen, and another Leesider Fintan McCarthy, claimed gold in the same event.

McCarthy was also in action, coming fifth on Sunday in the men's single sculls B final, after finishing fourth in Friday's A semi-final.

Cork's Cremen and Kerry's Hyde overhauled reigning world champions the Netherlands in a thrilling final 250m to claim victory on Friday.

Ireland finished in 6:43.48, 1.03 seconds ahead of the Dutch crew, Roos de Jong and Benthe Boonstra, while Switzerland's Salome Ulrich and Fabienne Schweizer were a further four seconds back.

The victory was the latest step up the ladder for a relatively new crew. They won the B final at last year's worlds in Shanghai and claimed bronze at the World Cup in Seville earlier this year - a clear mark of their progression.

"There's such disbelief, to be honest," said an overjoyed Cremen.

Oh my God. It went so quickly. It really is a dream come true. 

"From the second we got to Amsterdam, we just had this belief in ourselves and just kept it the whole way. It's just amazing."

Hyde added: "We have just developed such an amazing partnership that I trust Mags to the end and I know she'll trust me till the end. I think we just kept believing, believing in ourselves, and it just worked out."

In Sunday's mixed double sculls, starting from lane one, the Irish crew of Cremen and Pazzaia took it out hard, though less than two seconds separated the first six crews at the 500m mark.

The Irish, Netherlands and USA crews began to pull clear of the rest in testing conditions, with Roos de Jong and Simon van Dorp pushing the Dutch crew into the lead.

Entering the final quarter of the race, Cremen and Pazzaia had less than a second advantage over the USA and in a sprint finish between the two boats, Ireland upped it to 44 strokes a minute to hold off the American challenge and cross the line in a time of 06:22.34.

Learning curve

Meanwhile, Fintan McCarthy hopes to learn from missing out on a medal.

"I'm a bit disappointed with the outcome. I believed I was going to win it, and I hung on until the end.

"I don’t think I’ve felt like this at a regatta in a very long time. In a way it’s a lot more motivating than maybe winning."