CANOEING: Despite a fast time of 41.56 secs, Andrzej Jezierski could only manage seventh in the C1 200m at sprint canoeing’s second World Cup in Duisberg, Geramny.
A week early, Cork-based Jezerierski had qualified for the London Olympics when he finished second in the 200m in 43.034. Barry Watkins was 3rd in the K1 1000m B final and also won his K1 500m heat coming from 5th place at halfway. Jenny Egan was eighth in the K1 500m. In the K2 200m C final, Pierce and Marchetti finished 5th with Egan and Majchrzak 6th. Next up for he squad is he European Sprint Championships in Croatia.
Locally, Salmon Leap padders dominated the boys’ U-18 K1 class at the Junior Liffey Descent. Mick McCarthy produced the fastest time of the day when he finished in 53 minutes, His clubmate Fiacra Devannay and Jack O’Hagan battled it out for second place. Salmon Leap also took the top two places in the U-15 race, with Oisin Casey followed by Ryan O’Connor. Wildwater’s Eadaoain Whelan won the girls’ U-18 title, with Salmon Leap’s Kate McCarthy first U-15.
SNOOKER: After a four-year break, Vincent Muldoon won his third Irish title at the Irish Snooker Championships in Letterkenny.
The Mayo man won his first title at the age of 15 in 2007 and when he repeated that victory a year later, won a place on snooker’s pro tour. He returned to the amateur ranks after he was awarded a sports scholarship at NUI Maynooth. In the final, Muldoon faced Martin McCrudden, the man who had beaten him in the 2010 final. The pair shared the first four frames with several breaks over 70. After the break, Muldoon took control of the game, rattling off five frames to lead 7-2. McCrudden rallied, winning the next three, but Muldoon then nailed down the next three frames for victory. Muldoon will now join Irish No 1 Rodney Goggins at the World Championships in Egypt next November. In the meantime, he travels to New York to take up a three-month internship on Wall Street.
MODERN PENTATHLON: Natalya Coyle’s 21st place at modern pentathlon’s World Cup final in China last week could have been better – but it was enough to confirm her place on the Irish team at the London Olympics.
The 21-year-old Coyle had a shaky start, fencing well below her usual level but then producing the seventh fastest swim of the day to move into 18th position. She maintained her good form in the showjumping, and started the final combined run/shoot from 16th position. Coyle shot well on her first series and maintained her position into the first run, but a disastrous second shoot dropped her down the field to 21st. Coyle now lies 10th in the Olympic rankings, with 13 athletes to qualify and will celebrate her qualification by carrying the Olympic torch next Wednesday in Dublin.
BMX BIKING: British-based Kelvin Batey missed on an Olympic place by just a single point at the BMX World Championships in Birmingham. Batey, a six times British champion before declaring for Ireland in 2010, qualified in 62nd place from the first round of time trials but got knocked out in the next round. In the masters competition, Shane Jessup survived a heavy fall to finish 5th and 7th in his races.
Also in action were juniors Alex Holliday (17), Arron Edwards (14), Jake Lynch (13), and star of the future Corey Waller aged just six.
TRIATHLON: Aileen Morrison boosted her chances of a medal at the London Olympics when she finished second at the Madrid Triathlon World Series – a best ever performance by an Irish triathlete.
After a particularly tough cycle, Switzerland’s Nicola Spirig only pulled away down the home straight chased hard by Morrison and Barbara Riveros Diaz of Chile. “I knew Nicola would kill it in the sprint, and then she went with 800m to go. I’m so glad I made it to the finish line – I thought I might just collapse with the jelly legs,” Morrison said.
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