Egan is encouraged by her sprint form
JENNY Egan has every reason to feel confident she can make a strong push for Olympic qualification in sprint canoeing.
A tremendous performance in the 500m at the European Senior Canoe Sprint Championships in Belgrade saw the Lucan kayaker secure qualification for the European Games in Minsk, Belarus in 2019.
Jenny Egan has been steadily improving
Indeed, she just missed out on clinching a place in the A Final by 1.3 seconds and, despite having to cope with an untimely fever the night before, she still managed to finish sixth in the B Final.
That was enough to leave her 15th in Europe and secure her further passage to Minsk.
“I’m really happy with my 500m performance,” said Egan. “While it was disappointing to just miss out on an A Final, I have to realise that it was a big improvement,” she told The Echo.
She was coming into the European Sprint Championships on the back of strong performances in World Cup meets in Hungary and Germany.
While collisions denied her finishes in the 5000m events at both those meets, she did serve up some very encouraging displays over the shorter distances.
In Hungary she made the K1 500m semi finals and the 300m C Final while in Germany the following week, she finished second in the C Final of the 500m.
Next up for the Dubliner will be the Sprint World Championships running from August 22-26 followed by the Marathon World Championships two weeks later.
Big impact
Both contests will be taking place in Portugal and Egan is hopeful she can make a big impact.
“I just hope that on the day I’m feeling good and can do a PB,” she said.
“It would be absolutely amazing to reach an A Final of a World Championship. Even to be in the top end of a B Final would be really great,” she added.
Egan, last year, became the first Irish female athlete to medal at a World Marathon Championships when she won bronze in South Africa, and she will be looking to reproduce, if not better, that form in September.
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