Overview

• Poland’s Miroslaw Zietarski and Mateusz Biskup took gold, with Serbia’s Martin Mackovic and Nikolaj Pimenov securing silver.
• The Irish crew ran second into the final 500m before Serbia edged past, as Poland had already moved clear after halfway and Olympic champions Romania slipped to sixth in the heat.
• Doyle and McCarthy have been a pairing for only a few months, and Shanghai was just their fourth race together.
• McCarthy has stepped up from lightweight after that event was dropped for Los Angeles 2028, while Doyle earned his third world medal to go with his Paris Olympic bronze.
• Rowing Ireland is likely to reassess line-ups over the winter, with plans affected by pending decisions from Paul O’Donovan and Daire Lynch on their paths toward LA.