Jenny bounces back with a sixth place finish in World Championships

LUCAN canoeist Jenny Egan-Simmons left her mark on a challenging season having dashed her way to a sixth-place finish at the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships in Denmark.

The Salmon Leap Canoe Club boater signed off on a year hindered by injury to clock 2:00:38.72 in the K1 Women 5,000m Final in Vejen, Dernmark on September 2.

Egan-Simmons had her pre-season training regime scuppered by plantar fasciitis, which limited her ability to run and ultimately build her capacity for the marathon events.

Facing an uphill battle due to her limited training she was plunged into further difficulty when the K1 5,000m format was changed to include five portages.

Yet, Egan-Simmons dug deep and impressed on the big stage, earning a superb sixth in the 24.2km marathon final in Denmark less than a week after competing at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Germany.

“You will always want more, but I’m satisfied with the results given the year that I’ve had with injury,” Egan-Simmons said.

“What was difficult was the quick turnaround between Sprint World Championships, where I raced in the K2 500m and K1 5,000m, and the Marathon World Championships.

“I raced on the Sunday, got home from Duisburg, Germany and flew out to Denmark less than 24 hours later, and raced five days later.

“That’s difficult, going from sprint to the longer distance in the marathon as well, in particular with recovery and preparation, but I’m happy with it overall.”

In Denmark, the Lucan native found herself around the middle of the racing pack when getting back into her boat after the first portage but clawed her way back up into sixth after the fourth portage, where she remained.

The result means that Egan-Simmons claimed sixth at the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships and eighth in the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in the K1 Women’s 5,000m class.

At the Sprint Worlds in Germany, Egan-Simmons made history alongside Éabha Ní Drisceoil in becoming the first Irish team in the K2 division at the competition, racing to an 11th-place finish over 200m and narrowly missing out on the 500m final by 1.1 seconds.

Named World Number One in the Women’s K1 5,000m by the International Canoe Federation last year, Egan-Simmons intends to take some time out to recuperate.

In the interim, Egan-Simmons plans on participating in an ocean race for the first time, in a mixed category alongside her husband Jonathan Simmons at the Madeira Ocean Challenge, before ramping back into full training over the winter.

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