Ballyvaughan’s Liam Jegou won Ireland’s first medal at the U23 World Canoe Slalom Championships on Friday.
Based in France, Liam lives and trains in Pau but is originally from North Clare. He won bronze in the men’s C1 at Krakow, Poland bringing home the country’s first medal of the championships following a very assured performance.
Jegou produced the finest run of his career, attacking the course from the start before a tip at the 14th of 20 gates cost him two penalty seconds. His time of 89.97 seconds was the fastest of the day before those two seconds brought his total up to 91.97.
Earlier on Friday morning Jegou had finished fourth fastest of 20 starters in the semi-finals with a time of 93.79. The top ten went through to the final.
He is no longer eligible for the U23 championships and will now be targetting a spot at next year’s Olympics in Tokyo.
Deserved medal for Ireland’s @LiamJegou at World Under-23 Championships. Bronze, but could well have been gold. Silver for France’s Lucas Roisin, Gold for Nicolas Gestin pic.twitter.com/5mxmQHdJt4
— liam gorman (@lmgorman77) July 19, 2019
