The world champions Switzerland lost the opportunity to qualify for the semi-finals of the Olympics in the men's pairs by just two-hundredths a second. This was achieved by Ireland on Sunday at the Vaire-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, after a thrillingly close heat.

The Swiss team of Roman Roeoesli & Andrin Gulich were beaten on the line by the Irish pair of Ross Corrigan & Nathan Timoney who finished third behind Spain & New Zealand. 0.43 seconds separated them.

Timoney said after the razor-thin win, "When you have to go, you go. Once you realize what you need, I think adrenaline kicks into gear, and you just keep going."

He said, "It was an anxious moment waiting for the results. It was definitely a very tense time, but we are thankfully in the top three."

As racing started early on Sunday, the grey drizzle from Saturday was replaced with bright sunshine and high temperatures.

The reigning Olympic lightweight double-sculls champions Paul O'Donovan of Ireland and Fintan Mccarthy, from Ireland, won the final heat with a margin of more than seven second to advance alongside Norway, Switzerland and Spain, Italy, and the Czech Republic.

The New Zealand pair of Shannon Cox & Jackie Kiddle won the women's light event in the heats, and secured their place in the semi-finals along with France, Romania, United States, Britain & Greece.

The lightweight crews that did not qualify on Sunday will be given another chance to compete in Monday's repechage.

Liu Zhiyu, the bronze medalist from Tokyo in men's doubles sculls, and his new partner Sulitan Ailijiang took their second chance by finishing third out of four teams in the race. This was just enough for them to beat Italy into the semi-finals on Tuesday.

Joanie Delgaco, of the Philippines, set the pace in the women's sculls race with a time 7:55. She will now go on to the semifinals of Monday.

She will also be joined by Thiehui Fam (Vietnam), Fatemeh Topraghghale, (Iran), Elis Ozbay (Turkey), Alejandra Alderete Alderete (Paraguay), and Adriana Sanguineti, (Peru).

Isak Ivan Zegelj, of Slovenia, was the leader in men's sculls. He qualified along with Javier Insfran from Paraguay, Quentin Antognelli from Morocco and Balraj Pawar from India. Sid Ali Boudina is an Algerian. (Reporting and editing by Ed Osmond, Alison Williams and Philip O'Connor)