Egan agonisingly short in Euro Games medal quest

JENNY Egan from Lucan produced another great performance but came up fractionally short of taking a medal in the Women’s K1 5000m Canoe race at the European Games in Baku this week.

Finishing up fourth, the Canoeing Ireland star was less than a second away from the runner-up spot, being pipped to bronze by Hunagry’s Renata Csay who crossed the line in 23:05.851 with Egan following in 23:06.306.

Silver medallist Lani Belcher of Great Britain was also less than a second ahead of her in 23:05.625 while winner Maryna Litvinchuk of Belarus was out on her own with a finishing time of 22:48.990.

Egan, a bronze medallist in the K1 5000m at the European Championships in the Czech Republic earlier this year, made the semi finals of the K1 200m and 500m in Baku setting a new national record in the latter with a time of 1:52.536.

It will be over the two shorter distances that Egan will be pushing for Olympic qualification when she heads to Milan in August for the World Championships.

There she will be targeting a top-eight finish in order to make the cut for Rio and, while she has proven more successful over the longer 5000m distance, this gutsy competitor is capable of producing a medal-winning performance at any level.

On another note, Egan is just one of 20 people who have been put through to the public voting phase to select ten Nissan Generation Next ambassadors for 2015.

The six individuals with the largest number of votes will win a place on the Nissan Generation Next programme.

Those interested in voting to support Jenny can do so online by visiting www.nissangenerationnext.ie and casting their vote anytime up to Monday, July 6.