Egan makes Poznan podium for the first time
By Stephen Leonard
JENNY Egan was back on the ICF World Cup podium after the Lucan kayaker took silver in the K1 5000m race in Poznan, Poland last weekend.
The Salmon Leap Club star finished just over half a second behind Inna Hryshchun of the Ukraine in the sprint for the line after the pair had broken away from the pack after the second portage.
Jenny Egan with the silver medal she won at World Cup One in Poznan
Competing on a course of one long lap of 2000m and four short laps of 750m, Egan made a great start and figured in the lead group before she and Hryshchun pulled away from Slovakian Mariana Petrusova who eventually finished third.
With qualification for Tokyo 2020 in mind, Egan also lined out in the Olympic sprint distance contests over 200m and 500m, her best result coming over the shorter race in which she made the C final and finished 23rd overall.
“I was delighted at winning silver” Egan told The Echo. “It was my first time on the podium in Poznan. I had never won a medal there before.
“Of course I would have loved to have won gold, but I was happy with how I raced. I love these moments, winning medals and getting on the podium.
“It was very rough conditions. It was very windy and wavy and you had to be careful on the turning points because the waves were coming at you sideways.
“My 200m race went well. I finished fifth in the C Final and I hope to build on that. In the 500m, I just had a bad race in the heat. It was just a bad experience that I have to put behind me and move on” she said.
In the men’s races in Poznan, Barry Watkins, also of Salmon Leap, made the B final of the K1 1000m, finishing eighth overall before also taking seventh in the men’s K1 5000m.
Ronan Foley, the reigning European junior marathon champion who was making his senior debut this season, finished 14th in the 5000m after competing in both the 500m and 1000m while Ryan O’Connor, another promising young paddler, contested the 200m sprint heats.
In the paracanoe races. Patrick O’Leary, a Corkman who is based in Galway, made the A final in the VL3 200m H2 after strong performances in the heats and semi-finals. He also reached the semi-finals of the KL3 H2 200m, which is a Paralympic discipline.
