Egan’s crack at Tokyo 2020 qualification in doubt
LIKE so many top inter-national athletes across the world right now, Jenny Egan has seen her push for Olympic qualification left up in the air as a result of the Coronavirus crises.
Ireland’s top female canoeist returned home from a six-week training camp in Florida last week, but was due to fly out to Portugal for a further three weeks of training.
Jenny Egan is not sure if she will get a shot at Olympic qualification
That has since been cancelled and the prospect of her getting a shot at Olympic Games qualification in May is increasingly in doubt.
The qualifiers for Europe are due to be held in the Czech Republic in early May followed by two World Cup meets, the second of which takes place in Germany and offers one final spot for Tokyo 2020 in Egan’s K1 200m and 500m divisions.
Yet the Lucan woman envisages that the International Canoe Federation is likely to follow the path taken by World Rowing which cancelled their remaining Olympic qualifying regattas as well as World Cup III, scheduled for around the same time.
“Right now I just don’t know what is happening, so all I can do is keep training as hard as I can.
“The gym is closed, but I can still get out on the water and try and do as much as I can at home.
“I was due to fly out to Portugal, but I won’t be doing that now. This is a crises that is affecting everyone. We’re all in this together and we all really have to play our part” she added.
Egan enjoyed another great year in 2019, earning her place among the 12 contenders for ‘The Echo Sports Star of the Year’ Award.
After winning silver in the World Cup K1 5000m race in Poznan, Poland, the Salmon Leap Club star then landed her second ICF World Cup medal in the space of a week after she won bronze in the K1 5000m in Germany.
She managed a fourth place finishes at both the European Games K1 5000m and the ICF Senior Canoe Marathon World Championships in China, while back home, she combined with fiancé Jon Simmons to successfully defend their Mixed K2 title in the 60th International Liffey Descent.
