Rebecca Shorten and Philip Doyle secure medals in Olympic rowing events
It's been another successful day at the Olympics for athletes from Northern Ireland with two more medals heading back.
At the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium Belfast's Rebecca Shorten won silver in the women's four final.
In another dramatic final Shorten, alongside Helen Glover, Esme Booth and Sam Redgrave, came agonisngly close to pipping the Dutch to the gold in the closing stages. It was anyone’s race with 500 metres to go with the two crews neck and neck, and Britain looked as if they would just get the upper hand as they pushed for glory.
But the Netherlands held on to cross the line in six minutes 27.31 seconds – 0.18secs ahead of the British boat.
Banbridge rower Philip Doyle won bronze in the men's double sculls alongside Daire Lynch for Team Ireland. Romania took the gold while the Netherlands won silver.
"First heavyweight medal ever," Doyle told RTÉ after his win referring to Team Ireland's first win in such a category in the rowing lake.
"Nice to write that into the history books."
The pair were down on most of the the field through the first 500 metres, but slowly made their way through it to force their way into medal contention. With Romania and the Netherlands in a battle for gold, Lynch and Doyle went for broke over the last 500 and reeled in American pair Ben Davison and Sorin Koszyk to take bronze. The pair recorded a time of six minutes 15.7 seconds with Romania, in lane one, taking gold to upset second-placed Netherlands second. Romania’s winning time was six minutes 12.58secs with the Dutch just over a second behind. Richard Archibald, interim chief executive of Sport NI said: “At Sport NI we would like to congratulate Rebecca Shorten on her Olympic silver in the Women’s Four for Team GB & NI.
"Rebecca’s career has gone from strength to strength and after an agonizing fourth place in Tokyo we are delighted to see her take the silver medal.
“This Olympic Games British and Irish Rowing have shown they are forces to be reckoned with. There is no doubt that these incredible performances will inspire the next generation of rowing talent here in Northern Ireland.”
He also offered his congratulations to Philip Doyle and his teammate Daire Lynch on their bronze medal. “The pair has had an incredible year, winning gold in the Ponzan World Cup and now a bronze medal at the Olympic Games," he said.
He said he hoped the NI athletes success in the rowing would strengthen the sport.
"Our local rowing clubs are providing opportunities and helping our young athletes to grow and thrive in the sport," he said. “We are proud to have supported Phil at the start of his career through our National Lottery funded Athlete Award.”
Doyle and Shorten joins a growing list of athletes from Northern Ireland taking home Olympic medals.
On Wednesday Hannah Scott secured a dramatic gold in the rowing lake in the quadruple sculls while swimmer Daniel Wiffen won gold in the men’s 800 metres freestyle and Jack McMillan won a gold medal in the 4x200m freestyle final.
Wiffen ended a 52-year wait for gold for a individual athlete from Northern Ireland to win a gold after Mary Peters success in Munich.
Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy teed-off in the golf for the four-day event.
Catch up with the latest UTV Live on ITVX
Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know.