Early on Sunday morning, 6th Sept, 2020, NUI Galway Sports Scholarship athlete Cliodhna Nolan secured her a European Gold Medal at the European u23 Rowing Championships in Duisburg, Germany. To secure a lightweight pairs gold Cliodhna and her teammate Lydia Heaphy had to break the u23 World Record on the way to the finish lining. They managed to finish 0.1 second faster than the Italian crew her set the world record at the world championships last June.
Having won their heat and securing their seats in the A final they settled into the final. Getting off the blocks in 3rd place, they started to come through other crews around the 750m mark, but it wasn’t until the 1250m marker did the Cliodhna and her team mate really make a move. They took clear water over Germany and continued to push more distance from Italy to secure not only a gold medal but a World Record. In what has been a strange summer for sport it is great to see the hard work put in by NUI Galway Sports Scholarship athletes paying off on a national, European and world stage !