Fermanagh rowers, Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney are back in rowing action when they take compete in the World Rowing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia.

The international event runs from September 3-10 and it will give the duo the opportunity to secure their place at next year’s Paris Olympics.

The men’s pair have been in Italy for the last month and Ross has been happy with how that came has went.

“We’ve had a brilliant camp here in Varese. It’s been four weeks of hard work but enjoyable all the same and we really feel like we’ve made good improvements since we raced in Lucerne at the World Cup.”

Lucerne was the last outing for Ross and Nathan at the World Rowing Cup III where they finished sixth.

“Personally my confidence comes down to the work we’ve put in since Lucerne rather than our result from that World Cup.

“The World Cup was a good indication we have speed and there was the opportunity to do something special since that but the focus is always forward looking.”

And forward looking included the 2024 Olympics in Paris. These upcoming championships are a qualifier for that. And while Paris is the ultimate goal, Ross said they are not letting it play on their minds: “With the Olympics Games being the pinnacle of the sport it obviously has a place in our minds especially when this World Champs is the qualifier for it but I wouldn’t say I would allow it to play on my mind as that’s the outcome and not so much the process.

“What’s more important right now is to continue nailing our preparations and get to the real fun - the racing.

“For me I prefer to aim for executing the process and make sure we come away happy with how we have preformed based of what we know we can do.

“With that being said results are of course part of it and we would be lying if we said Olympic qualification and taking home a medal with it wasn’t the dream,” concluded Ross.