Cork's Mags Cremen savours gold medal success alongside Zoe Hyde at World Rowing Championships

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

Cork's Cremen and Kerry's Hyde overhauled reigning world champions the Netherlands in a thrilling final 250m to claim victory. Switzerland took the bronze medal.

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 is 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: "It was so tight, holding on for dear life, but we held on. When we were warming up, [the crowd] were cheering 'Ireland' and it just gave me goosebumps and I thought 'we have to do it for them.'

"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."

Unfortunately, Cork's Fintan McCarthy missed out on a place in the men's single sculls final, finishing fourth in his semi-final with a time of 6:55.45. The race was won by German Olympic champion Oliver Zeidler (6:45.89) with USA's Samuel Melvin (6:47.78) in second and Uruguay's Bruno Cetraro Berriolo (6:50.64) in third.

McCarthy competed in the B final on Sunday.