Ballyvaughan’s Liam Jegou helped Ireland claim a silver medal in the C1 team category at the European Slalom Canoeing Championships held in the Czech capitol of Prague on Sunday.
Liam alongside Robert Hendrick and Jake Cochrane finished second behind Slovenia, who completed the course in 120.43 secs, including one “touch” on a gate for two penalty points.
Newly crowned European champion Benjamin Savsek was included on the Slovenian team. The Irish were a clear second in 135.83 secs with four “touches” for eight penalty points. Third was Poland in 150.58 secs with 12 touches.
In team canoeing events, the three boats start together and follow each other through the gates as quickly as possible attempting not to hit them. The time of the run is recorded when the last boat crosses the finish line.
Earlier in the competition, both Liam who is Ireland’s qualifier for the Tokyo Olympics, and Jake Cochrane had made the semi-final of the individual C1 competition. Jegou finished second on the first run with the top 15 to qualify. Cochrane narrowly missed out but made it on the second run when finishing fourth.
In the semi-finals, Cochrane finished 12th with one error towards the end of the course keeping him out of the final. Jegou finished 15th after hitting early gates.
In men’s K1, Noel Hendrick finished tenth in his heat in a time of 101.35 secs, while Eoin Teague was 16th in 109.16. In the K1 team competition, with Alistair McCreery the third member, Ireland finished 12th.
