#Canoeing: Odhran McNally took fifth place in the men’s Under-23 K1 sprint final at the Wildwater World Junior and Under-23 Championships in Banja Luka in Bosnia and Herzegovina today.

 The 22-year-old Irishman finished in 56.54 seconds, just 3.24 seconds behind gold medallist Anze Uranakar of Slovenia.

Wildwater Canoeing Under-23 World Championships, Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina (Irish interest)

Men

K1 Sprint Final: 1 A Urankar (Slovenia) 53.30; 5 O McNally (Ireland) 56.54

Joint Irish Sailor of the Year for 218, Seán Waddilove, will be part of a panel discussion this Thursday afternoon (28 February) with the men and women of elite sport at TU Dublin who are busy preparing for qualification bids for 2020.

The event in St Laurence’s on the new university’s Grangegorman campus will provide a unique insight into the lives of Ireland’s future sports stars and what it takes to realise dreams of representing Ireland at the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo next year.

Among the other elite athletes on the Olympic Hopefuls Road to Tokyo campaign panel hosted by RTÉ sports presenter Darren Frehill will be Odhrán McNally, who competes in both wild water and sprint disciplines in his sport of canoeing and represented Ireland at the Wildwater Worlds.

The event marks TU Dublin Sport’s new sponsorship by SISK FCC, who have signed on for a three-year deal for the university’s Elite Sports Scholarship programme.