Richie Porte, Nathaniel Atkinson, Henry Youl and Jack Hale grace international stages

From Sydney to Edinburgh and Poland to Italy, Tassie sportsmen are keeping their home state on the global sporting map.

Another gutsy performance in the Italian mountains has hauled Richie Porte to within touching distance of the podium in the week-long Tirreno-Adriatico.

A fourth place finish on the 215-kilometre queen stage from Apecchio to Carpegna saw the Tasmanian veteran up to the same position on general classification.

Representing INEOS Grenadiers, Launceston's 37-year-old father-of-two finished 1:34 behind Slovenia's stage winner Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates). The reigning champion and two-time Tour de France winner also leads overall with Porte 2:44 behind but only 11 seconds off third-placed Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious).

Sunday's final stage, beginning and ending in San Benedetto del Tronto, is 159km long and Porte said the race is not over yet.

"Of course they're super strong, but you know they're only human, they can also suffer like the rest of us," he said.

"I think they're at another level but we've just got to see how the race pans out."

This is just Porte's second assault at the Race of the Two Seas and eight years after his first.

In his 15^th and final season as a pro, Porte is also scheduled to contest the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya in Spain, Tour of the Alps and Giro d'Italia and Tour of Britain.

Launceston prodigy Nathaniel Atkinson has helped Heart of Midlothian reach the Scottish Cup semi-finals.

The 22-year-old Riverside Olympic product played a pivotal role in putting the Edinburgh side ahead en route to a 4-2 win over St Mirren at Tynecastle.

Having led 2-0 only to see the visitors level the scores, Hearts surged ahead in the 67^th minute.

"The Jambos are back in front!" declared the club Twitter feed. "Atkinson does so well down the right, he fires a cross in for (Ellis) Simms to get a touch and (Aaron) McEneff deftly diverts it into the goal with his thigh! 3-2!"

The semi-finals will be played at the home of Scottish football, Hampden Park in Glasgow, on April 16 and 17. Big guns Rangers and Celtic are still in the competition along with Motherwell, Hibernian, Dundee United and Dundee.

Atkinson, who was signed from Melbourne City on Christmas Eve last year, has made 11 appearances for Hearts, scoring once.

Tamar Rowing Club captain Henry Youl has achieved his goal of selection into the Australian Rowing Team.

Rowing Australia has revealed its crews and squads for world cups in Serbia, Poland and Switzerland with Youl one of 12 in the men's coxed eight squad.

This team announcement follows a week of rigorous selection trials that were moved from Sydney to Canberra due to the extreme weather experienced in Penrith. More than 80 athletes were put through their paces over the week.

Launceston-born Youl's progression to join a training camp at the National Training Centre in Canberra improved his chances of selection for this year's world championships, to be held at Racice in the Czech Republic in September.

The 26-year-old has twice made national teams for under-23 world champs, finishing third and fifth in coxed fours.

In 2019 he became the first man to win all seven possible events at the Tasmanian championships, taking out the senior heavyweight men's singles, pairs, doubles, quads, coxless fours, coxed fours and coxed eights.

Youl was the only Tasmanian named on the team.

World cups are scheduled to take place in Belgrade from May 27-29, Poznan from June 17-19 and Lucerne from July 8-10. Australia will also send crews to the Henley Royal Regatta beginning in late June.

RA performance director Paul Thompson said that, aside from the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, this was the first time since 2019 that Australia had sent a full-strength team to international competition. "Despite the interruptions, the athletes displayed a great attitude and once again demonstrated their adaptability and resilience," he added.

RA has also announced that the Sydney International Regatta Centre is unable to host national championships due to water contamination issues. Alternative venues are being considered.

Jack Hale achieved a strong second-place finish in the 100 metres at the Sydney Track Classic.

Tasmania's 23-year-old 2018 Commonwealth Games representative clocked 10.40 as he finished behind New Zealand's Eddie Osei-Nketia (10.30) at Sydney Olympic Park.

A blanket finish saw another six runners go inside 10.46 including Hale's fellow Hobartian Jacob Despard, who finished in a tie for third.

In other Tasdmanian results, Hobart's Raphaela Corney finished fourth in the women's pole vault, recording the same 4.05m height as third-placed South Australian Madeline Lawson, while Newstead's Sam Clifford clocked 7:58.90 to finish 13^th in the 3000m won by Queensland's Jude Thomas in 7:47.26.