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Displaying items by tag: canoe slalom

2022 is going to be a big year for Canoe Slalom, with a combination of a packed international calendar of racing and a particularly strong Irish Team setting the stage for a great year ahead. This busy season got underway at the European Championships, held in Slovakia from the 26th-29th May. For the slalom team, this was the first opportunity post team selection for the whole squad to line up and put down some pace markers for the season.

Day 1 of racing focussed on the K1s. A fast course set for the race turned the dial up for the entire field, with some extremely quick times being put down with some extremely fine margins making qualification a very competitive affair. Madison Corcoran was the first athlete lining up for the Irish Team in these championships, finishing the event in 28th position. At only 19 years of age Madison’s performance is a great portent of things to come. The K1 Men team were hoping to follow up on what was a very strong 2021 season and showed some excellent pace throughout the event.

Noel Hendrick was the top finisher, coming home in 32nd place, narrowly missing the semi-final with 2 gate penalties incurred. Alistair McCreery was the next best in 38th place, with some very consistent racing across the qualification rounds. Samuel Curtis was the final Irish athlete in 42nd, being dropped lower in the results with penalty seconds. Back racing in the afternoon these athletes teamed up to finish 17th in the K1 men's team race.

The Friday was the chance of the C1s to get out and kick off their 2022 campaigns.

In the C1 Women Michaela Corcoran exactly replicated her twin sisters performance, finishing in 28th. The always strong C1 Men were next up and proceeded to continue their excellent run of racing. Liam Jegou and Jake Cochrane both qualified through to Sunday's semi-finals, with Robert Hendrick showing great pace throughout the race, being hampered by time penalties. The C1 men again lined up together to show us their team racing pedigree, putting down a solid race to end the day with 7th in the team race.

In the C1 Men semi-final, the tough course set for the next round of racing proved a significant challenge for the entire field, with Liam Jegou and Jake Cochrane proving no exception. Both did themselves justice on what was a tight day of racing, showing great composure and grit through the pressurised race. Liam finished up in 16th position, with Jake landing in 19th, moved lower with 4 penalty seconds.

Published in Canoeing
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#Canoeing: Jake Cochrane and Eoin Teague made it through to the semi-finals at the canoe slalom World Cup Final in Prague. Teague, in the K1, and Cochrane in the C1, both qualified from their second runs. Liam Jegou did not in the semi-finals of the men’s C1. He came close in the first run and had three touches, incurring six seconds in penalties, in his second.

Published in Canoeing

#Canoeing: Noel Hendrick put in a solid performance in the men’s K1 semi-final at the canoe slalom World Under-23 Championships in Krakow, Poland, this morning. He had no touches, but his time of 91.46 seconds left him outside the top 10 who went through to the final. He finished 22nd.  

 Eoin Teague was off the pace in his run and was then thrown completely out of the reckoning at the finish when he misjudged gate 20 and was given a 50-second penalty.

Canoe Slalom World Under-23 Championships, Krakow (Irish interest)

K1 Semi-Final: 22 N Hendrick 91.46 seconds; 36 E Teague 144.24

Published in Canoeing

#Canoeing: Liam Jegou eased into the final of the men’s C1 at the canoe slalom World Championships this morning. The Ireland paddler delivered a fault-free semi-final in 93.79 seconds to place fourth of the 10 finalists.  

Canoe Slalom Under-23 World Championships, Krakow (Irish interest)

Men, C1 Semi-Final: 4 L Jegou 93.79

Published in Canoeing

#Canoeing: David McClure finished fifth in the final of the K1 Surface event at the canoe freestyle World Championships in Sort in Spain. At the canoe slalom European Under-23 Championships, Noel Hendrick reached the semi-finals and finished 26th in Liptovsky Mikulas in Slovakia. The Irishman had touches on gates three and 17, incurring four seconds in penalties.

Published in Canoeing

#Canoeing: Liam Jegou, Sam Curtis and Aisling Conlan all had wins at the canoe slalom Irish Open at the Sluice Weir in Lucan today. Jegou, who travelled from his base in Pau in France for the event, was the top C1 paddler, while Curtis and Conlan won their K1 events. The Ireland selection event for the season will be held at La Seu d’Urgell in Spain next month.

Canoe Slalom Irish Open, Dublin, Sunday (Selected Results; results on best of two runs)

Men

K1: Sam Curtis 79.87 seconds. Junior: Adam Vaugh 93.82.

C1: Liam Jegou 81.76

Women

K1: Aisling Conlan 103.20.

Published in Canoeing

#Canoeing: Ireland’s Liam Jegou finished 24th in the semi-final of the canoe slalom World Championships in Rio de Janeiro. The C1 paddler incurred four seconds of penalties for touches on gate one and gate 10 which cost him his chance of making the top 10 and Saturday’s final.

Canoe Slalom World Championships, Rio de Janeiro: C1 Semi-Final (First 10 to A Final): 24 Ireland (L Jegou) 110.04 seconds.

Published in Canoeing

#Canoeing: Noel Hendrick qualified for his first semi-final in a big event and went on to make the final at the canoe slalom European Under-23 Championships in Bratislava. The Irishman finished ninth. It was a breaktrough for the young K1 paddler.

 Liam Jegou also made it through the C1 semi-finals on Sunday.

Published in Canoeing

#Canoeing: Liam Jegou finished 17th in the under-23 C1 semi-final at the European Junior and Under-23 Championships in Hohenlimburg, Germany today.

 The France-based competitor incurred a two-point penalty on the first gate, and while he did not touch or miss another gate his time put him three seconds outside the top 10, who qualified for the final.   

Published in Canoeing

#Canoeing: Liam Jegou finished 14th at the canoe slalom World Cup Final in Tacen in Slovenia. The 20-year-old was less than a second from qualification from the semi-final. The course underwent major changes after building work failed: the number of gates was limited to 14. Jegou emerged with a season ranking in the World Cup events of 17th of the 103 competitors. He is in his first season on the circuit as a senior paddler.

Canoe Slalom World Cup Final, Tacen Slovenia (Irish interest)

Men

C1 Semi-Final: 14th - L Jegou 110.9 seconds.

Published in Canoeing
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Irish Olympic Sailing Team

Ireland has a proud representation in sailing at the Olympics dating back to 1948. Today there is a modern governing structure surrounding the selection of sailors the Olympic Regatta

Irish Olympic Sailing FAQs

Ireland’s representation in sailing at the Olympics dates back to 1948, when a team consisting of Jimmy Mooney (Firefly), Alf Delany and Hugh Allen (Swallow) competed in that year’s Summer Games in London (sailing off Torquay). Except for the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Ireland has sent at least one sailor to every Summer Games since then.

  • 1948 – London (Torquay) — Firefly: Jimmy Mooney; Swallow: Alf Delany, Hugh Allen
  • 1952 – Helsinki — Finn: Alf Delany * 1956 – Melbourne — Finn: J Somers Payne
  • 1960 – Rome — Flying Dutchman: Johnny Hooper, Peter Gray; Dragon: Jimmy Mooney, David Ryder, Robin Benson; Finn: J Somers Payne
  • 1964 – Tokyo — Dragon: Eddie Kelliher, Harry Maguire, Rob Dalton; Finn: Johnny Hooper 
  • 1972 – Munich (Kiel) — Tempest: David Wilkins, Sean Whitaker; Dragon: Robin Hennessy, Harry Byrne, Owen Delany; Finn: Kevin McLaverty; Flying Dutchman: Harold Cudmore, Richard O’Shea
  • 1976 – Montreal (Kingston) — 470: Robert Dix, Peter Dix; Flying Dutchman: Barry O’Neill, Jamie Wilkinson; Tempest: David Wilkins, Derek Jago
  • 1980 – Moscow (Tallinn) — Flying Dutchman: David Wilkins, Jamie Wilkinson (Silver medalists) * 1984 – Los Angeles — Finn: Bill O’Hara
  • 1988 – Seoul (Pusan) — Finn: Bill O’Hara; Flying Dutchman: David Wilkins, Peter Kennedy; 470 (Women): Cathy MacAleavy, Aisling Byrne
  • 1992 – Barcelona — Europe: Denise Lyttle; Flying Dutchman: David Wilkins, Peter Kennedy; Star: Mark Mansfield, Tom McWilliam
  • 1996 – Atlanta (Savannah) — Laser: Mark Lyttle; Europe: Aisling Bowman (Byrne); Finn: John Driscoll; Star: Mark Mansfield, David Burrows; 470 (Women): Denise Lyttle, Louise Cole; Soling: Marshall King, Dan O’Grady, Garrett Connolly
  • 2000 – Sydney — Europe: Maria Coleman; Finn: David Burrows; Star: Mark Mansfield, David O'Brien
  • 2004 – Athens — Europe: Maria Coleman; Finn: David Burrows; Star: Mark Mansfield, Killian Collins; 49er: Tom Fitzpatrick, Fraser Brown; 470: Gerald Owens, Ross Killian; Laser: Rory Fitzpatrick
  • 2008 – Beijing (Qingdao) — Star: Peter O’Leary, Stephen Milne; Finn: Tim Goodbody; Laser Radial: Ciara Peelo; 470: Gerald Owens, Phil Lawton
  • 2012 – London (Weymouth) — Star: Peter O’Leary, David Burrows; 49er: Ryan Seaton, Matt McGovern; Laser Radial: Annalise Murphy; Laser: James Espey; 470: Gerald Owens, Scott Flanigan
  • 2016 – Rio — Laser Radial (Women): Annalise Murphy (Silver medalist); 49er: Ryan Seaton, Matt McGovern; 49erFX: Andrea Brewster, Saskia Tidey; Laser: Finn Lynch; Paralympic Sonar: John Twomey, Ian Costello & Austin O’Carroll

Ireland has won two Olympics medals in sailing events, both silver: David Wilkins, Jamie Wilkinson in the Flying Dutchman at Moscow 1980, and Annalise Murphy in the Laser Radial at Rio 2016.

The current team, as of December 2020, consists of Laser sailors Finn Lynch, Liam Glynn and Ewan McMahon, 49er pairs Ryan Seaton and Seafra Guilfoyle, and Sean Waddilove and Robert Dickson, as well as Laser Radial sailors Annalise Murphy and Aoife Hopkins.

Irish Sailing is the National Governing Body for sailing in Ireland.

Irish Sailing’s Performance division is responsible for selecting and nurturing Olympic contenders as part of its Performance Pathway.

The Performance Pathway is Irish Sailing’s Olympic talent pipeline. The Performance Pathway counts over 70 sailors from 11 years up in its programme.The Performance Pathway is made up of Junior, Youth, Academy, Development and Olympic squads. It provides young, talented and ambitious Irish sailors with opportunities to move up through the ranks from an early age. With up to 100 young athletes training with the Irish Sailing Performance Pathway, every aspect of their performance is planned and closely monitored while strong relationships are simultaneously built with the sailors and their families

Rory Fitzpatrick is the head coach of Irish Sailing Performance. He is a graduate of University College Dublin and was an Athens 2004 Olympian in the Laser class.

The Performance Director of Irish Sailing is James O’Callaghan. Since 2006 James has been responsible for the development and delivery of athlete-focused, coach-led, performance-measured programmes across the Irish Sailing Performance Pathway. A Business & Economics graduate of Trinity College Dublin, he is a Level 3 Qualified Coach and Level 2 Coach Tutor. He has coached at five Olympic Games and numerous European and World Championship events across multiple Olympic classes. He is also a member of the Irish Sailing Foundation board.

Annalise Murphy is by far and away the biggest Irish sailing star. Her fourth in London 2012 when she came so agonisingly close to a bronze medal followed by her superb silver medal performance four years later at Rio won the hearts of Ireland. Murphy is aiming to go one better in Tokyo 2021. 

Under head coach Rory Fitzpatrick, the coaching staff consists of Laser Radial Academy coach Sean Evans, Olympic Laser coach Vasilij Zbogar and 49er team coach Matt McGovern.

The Irish Government provides funding to Irish Sailing. These funds are exclusively for the benefit of the Performance Pathway. However, this falls short of the amount required to fund the Performance Pathway in order to allow Ireland compete at the highest level. As a result the Performance Pathway programme currently receives around €850,000 per annum from Sport Ireland and €150,000 from sponsorship. A further €2 million per annum is needed to have a major impact at the highest level. The Irish Sailing Foundation was established to bridge the financial gap through securing philanthropic donations, corporate giving and sponsorship.

The vision of the Irish Sailing Foundation is to generate the required financial resources for Ireland to scale-up and execute its world-class sailing programme. Irish Sailing works tirelessly to promote sailing in Ireland and abroad and has been successful in securing funding of 1 million euro from Sport Ireland. However, to compete on a par with other nations, a further €2 million is required annually to realise the ambitions of our talented sailors. For this reason, the Irish Sailing Foundation was formed to seek philanthropic donations. Led by a Board of Directors and Head of Development Kathryn Grace, the foundation lads a campaign to bridge the financial gap to provide the Performance Pathway with the funds necessary to increase coaching hours, upgrade equipment and provide world class sport science support to a greater number of high-potential Irish sailors.

The Senior and Academy teams of the Performance Pathway are supported with the provision of a coach, vehicle, coach boat and boats. Even with this level of subsidy there is still a large financial burden on individual families due to travel costs, entry fees and accommodation. There are often compromises made on the amount of days a coach can be hired for and on many occasions it is necessary to opt out of major competitions outside Europe due to cost. Money raised by the Irish Sailing Foundation will go towards increased quality coaching time, world-class equipment, and subsiding entry fees and travel-related costs. It also goes towards broadening the base of talented sailors that can consider campaigning by removing financial hurdles, and the Performance HQ in Dublin to increase efficiency and reduce logistical issues.

The ethos of the Performance Pathway is progression. At each stage international performance benchmarks are utilised to ensure the sailors are meeting expectations set. The size of a sailor will generally dictate which boat they sail. The classes selected on the pathway have been identified as the best feeder classes for progression. Currently the Irish Sailing Performance Pathway consists of the following groups: * Pathway (U15) Optimist and Topper * Youth Academy (U19) Laser 4.7, Laser Radial and 420 * Development Academy (U23) Laser, Laser Radial, 49er, 49erFX * Team IRL (direct-funded athletes) Laser, Laser Radial, 49er, 49erFX

The Irish Sailing performance director produces a detailed annual budget for the programme which is presented to Sport Ireland, Irish Sailing and the Foundation for detailed discussion and analysis of the programme, where each item of expenditure is reviewed and approved. Each year, the performance director drafts a Performance Plan and Budget designed to meet the objectives of Irish Performance Sailing based on an annual review of the Pathway Programmes from Junior to Olympic level. The plan is then presented to the Olympic Steering Group (OSG) where it is independently assessed and the budget is agreed. The OSG closely monitors the delivery of the plan ensuring it meets the agreed strategy, is within budget and in line with operational plans. The performance director communicates on an ongoing basis with the OSG throughout the year, reporting formally on a quarterly basis.

Due to the specialised nature of Performance Sport, Irish Sailing established an expert sub-committee which is referred to as the Olympic Steering Group (OSG). The OSG is chaired by Patrick Coveney and its objective is centred around winning Olympic medals so it oversees the delivery of the Irish Sailing’s Performance plan.

At Junior level (U15) sailors learn not only to be a sailor but also an athlete. They develop the discipline required to keep a training log while undertaking fitness programmes, attending coaching sessions and travelling to competitions. During the winter Regional Squads take place and then in spring the National Squads are selected for Summer Competitions. As sailors move into Youth level (U19) there is an exhaustive selection matrix used when considering a sailor for entry into the Performance Academy. Completion of club training programmes, attendance at the performance seminars, physical suitability and also progress at Junior and Youth competitions are assessed and reviewed. Once invited in to the Performance Academy, sailors are given a six-month trial before a final decision is made on their selection. Sailors in the Academy are very closely monitored and engage in a very well planned out sailing, training and competition programme. There are also defined international benchmarks which these sailors are required to meet by a certain age. Biannual reviews are conducted transparently with the sailors so they know exactly where they are performing well and they are made aware of where they may need to improve before the next review.

©Afloat 2020