Enniskillen rower Leonora Kennedy and Lisa Dilleen finished eighth in the World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam. The duo qualified for the B final in the women’s pair and finished second in their race behind the Russian boat.

The week long event had started well for the pair as they finished second in their heat behind the English Olympic medallists, qualifying them for the semi-final ahead of the Canadians. “Canada had beaten us at a regatta about a month before so we were really trying to beat them,” said Leonora. The Canadians did come on strong at the end of the heat, but the Irish withstood the challenge to take their place in the semi-final.

To secure a place in the final Leonora and Lisa needed to finish inside the top four, and they knew they would have to beat the boat of the Australians to achieve their goal. The Australians got the better start however, and Leonora could not haul them in. “They were faster than us,” she admitted, “but we raced them as opposed to racing our own race. We’ve learnt from that though.” Their fifth place finish secured their place in the B final, and they had hopes of winning the race but they came up against an inspired Russian boat. “In the final we were hoping that we would come seventh but the Russians went out hard and kept going,” said Leonora. “We weren’t unhappy with our own race but we were surprised the Russians stayed ahead.” Their eighth placed finish however provided Leonora with plenty of encouragement for the future. Next year’s World Championships will be used as a qualifying event for the Olympic Games, and if the duo can repeat their performance of this year then they will be on the way to Rio.

“Next year the top eleven places go straight to the Olympics and we are in that range at the moment,” she said. “Hopefully we will move on next year as well because we have only been together for a short time. We went to the Europeans and then a couple of World Cups and our coach was sick and I got injured, so that put us back a bit, but we made that back at the World Championships. I think with the whole winter training under our belts we will be right back up there.” And Leonora went on to thank all the support she has received as she looks to continue to make a push to qualify for the Olympics.

“I couldn’t be on the road to Rio without them all! The Fermanagh Trust, Mary Peters Trust and The Dale Farm Academy, the Irish Sports Council, Rowing Ireland and all the staff there, the local support and in particular my family,” she said.