World Cup a chance for Ross and Nathan to show Olympic credentials

If Fermanagh rowers, Ross Corrigan and Nathan Timoney, fulfil their dream and race at this year's Paris Olympics this weeks World Rowing Cup One in Varese, Italy should give them a good insight into what to expect in the Mens Pairs.

The pair flew out from Cork to Italy on Tuesday as part of the Irish contingent in preparation for the event which gets underway on Friday.

While Ross explained that it is a small entry in their category, it is packed with quality.

"It’s a small enough entry; 11 boats in total including Great Britain have two crews entered so have Germany and Italy.

"But we have all three medallists including ourselves from the World Championships last year and then we have the Croatian Mens double who are the Olympic champions and we have a Danish Mens double who were the Olympic bronze medallists both in Tokyo.

"So we have five, including ourselves, very strong crews that could be an A Ffinal at the Olympics.

"It will give us a chance to go and have a bash off them and see where we are, get some proper international racing done, see where we are and come back.

"And then its roughly six weeks from World Cup One to World Cup Two."

Preparation for the event has been plain sailing for the pair. Nathan's preparation was affected by sickness and it was only last Thursday that they completed a speed test to ensure they were up to the pace for the World Cup.

"We were just unlucky the last couple of weeks juggling between sickness and consistent training in the pair," explained Nathan.

"I had an up-and-down week or so of sickness but Ross has been grinding away on land making gains and now I’m swiftly on my way back up to pace.

"We have been in the pair all week and despite the setback we have had some of best sessions technically."

Ross continued: "Coaches left it up to him whether he wanted to hold off and go to the European Championships later this month instead or race the World Cup.

"We thought it would be better to race the World Cup and Nathan reckoned he would be good to go in time for the World Cup.

"He said we'll race and keep pushing on towards it and we needed to go and do some sort of assessment to show relatively and comparatively to all the other crews selected, that we are fast enough to go.

"This time of year we would always do race pieces anyway as part of our training. It meant this week was more heavily weighted for us because it meant it was also our selection. We are happy with the speed of the boat."

It all leads to one ultimate goal - the Olympic Games.

While the selection process is ongoing being the fastest boat on August 2 is the aim.

A medal at the World Cup will be a huge achievement but also a stepping stone for the pair.

"We always go with the intention of racing and going for medals because that’s a given," said Ross with Nathan adding: "We are certainly going to approach the World Cup with a blast and aim for top positions. The approach and attitude is important.

"In terms of selection and spaces for the Olympics, this is probably the first step to now securing our selection with World Cup Two also next month.

"So we’ll be treating these events as opportunities to push and prove ourselves of our capabilities no matter what phase of the program we are on," Nathan concluded.