#CANOEING - The Irish Times reports that Ciaran Heurteau is 10th in the World Cup standings for 2012 in the K1 slalom.

The Irish paddler, raised in Paris, has competed in all five Canoe Slalom World Cup events this year, with his best result of 5th place at Pau in France in mid summer, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

More recently the 25-year-old finished 15th at last weekend's event in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Heurteau, who was beaten to a spot at the London Olympics by Eoin Rheinisch, is at 47th place in the latest International Canoe Federation (ICF) world rankings, which are decided from results over a two-year period.

He stands nine places ahead of Rheinisch, who lost out on a place in K1 final in London after a disastrous 50-second time penalty in his semi-final run.

#CANOEING - The Irish Times reports that Eoin Rheinisch and Ciarán Heurteau have secured their canoe slalom qualification spots for London 2012 after last weekend's selection races in Lucan.

Three places were up for grabs in the men's K1, with the third yet to be confirmed after fourth-placed Patrick Hynes contested a touch on a gate by third-place finisher Sam Curtis.

Meanwhile, in the women's K1, the qualifying spots went go Hannah Craig, Helen Barnes and Aisling Conlon.

The qualifiers will be part of the European Championships in Augusburg, Germany from 10-13 May, where Olympic spots are available for boats from two countries not already qualified.

#CANOEING - The Evening Herald reports that top Irish canoeist Jenny Egan is headed to Florida for a few months of training towards a spot at the 2012 Olympics.

A sprint and marathon racer, Egan was named as The Irish Times/Irish Sport Council's Sportswoman of the Month for May 2010 in recognition of some very impressive performances.

Indeed, the Kildare native enjoyed much success in 2012, with second place in the 5000m at the World Sprint Cup in the Czech Republic and a new Irish record in the 500m at the Canoe Slalom Worlds in Hungary among her achievements.

Heading into 2012, the Salmon Leap club member will surely be shrugging off setbacks like her crash in the heat and humidity of Singapore at the Canoe Marathon Worlds last October.

The new year brings a new focus, as Egan will concentrate on the 500m and 200m K1 sprint distances for the London games, with the final qualifiers - for just 15 spots - taking place in Poland in April.

The Evening Herald has more on the story HERE.

The Irish Canoe Union will host a sprint head-to-head regatta in Kildare next weekend.

All canoeists in classes K1 200m and 500m are welcome to take part in the event, on the Grand Canal in Prosperous on Saturday 26 March starting at 10.30am.

Heats will be seeded based on previous regatta performances and personal best times. The event finals will then be decided on fastest time from heats.

Entries are open till 8pm on Wednesday 23 March. Entry forms are available via the Canoeing Ireland website.