Egan retains World Number One spot
LUCAN canoeist Jenny Egan saw another superb international season capped off with the announcement by the ICF that she has retained her World Number One ranking in the Women’s K1 5000m class.
Topping the table in that division for the first time back in 2019, Egan believed she was a strong contender to do it again in 2021 having finished runner-up in the ICF World Cup 5000m race in Russia before scooping another silver medal at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Copenhagen last month.
“I thought that by winning the silver medal at the World Cup in Russia and then winning silver at the World Championships that I’d have a good chance” Egan told The Echo.
“Getting two silver medals, especially that World Championship medal where you get a lot of points from that, was huge.
“I was trying to calculate in my own head who had beaten me at certain events.
“The World Cup in Szeged in Hungary was also included and I was bit worried because that’s where I had the collision and I fell in the water and I wasn’t able to complete that race.
“So I knew I had to beat certain women in the World Championships in order to retain the World Number One spot and I’m absolutely delighted that I did retain it. It’s a nice way to top off the season.
“In 2019 I was ranked Number One in the World. Obviously in 2020 I didn’t compete at all and there wouldn’t have even been a World ranking that year because of Covid.
“So the last possible time to be ranked Number One was in 2019 and to retain it now in 2021 is great” she said.
Making the podium at two major international events as well as finishing fifth at the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships in Romania this year, is a massive return for the Dubliner who, like so many others, has had to contend with huge challenges in remaining at the top of her sport over the past 18 months.
“I hadn’t been on any warm-weather training camp with any other international paddlers this year at all. I haven’t been on a training camp since March 2020” explained Egan.
“There’s so many elements that come with racing. There’s the physical side, but then you have the mental side of it too.
“Just even travelling again, it was so different. All the logistics that were involved, the logistics that were made even bigger because of Covid.
“But I’m delighted now. It’s been an amazing season.
“Any season you win a World Championship medal. Those medals don’t come around too frequently.
“And the fifth place in the World [Canoe Marathon] Championships was a great result as well. I was only 20 seconds of the gold medal after 26.2km.
“But the World Championship medal was definitely the highlight, because I won bronze in than one in 2018, the first medal for Ireland by a male or female athlete, and to get back on that podium and go one place better was very special” she said.
