Ireland canoeist Liam Jegou travels to the final World Cup in Spain next weekend with a good result under his belt. The C1 paddler took sixth at the World Cup in Pau in France, finishing just 0.59 of a second behind the reigning Olympic champion, who took bronze.
“I’m really happy,” Jegou said. He had targeted doing well in the World Cup series and he said he hopes to hold or maybe even improve on his seventh placing overall in La Seu d’Urgell in a week’s time.
Jegou was one of three Irishmen who qualified for the semi-finals in Pau, and he followed up a clear run on a testing course with a better one in the final, in 105.6 seconds. He splashed the first gate and was originally given a time penalty for a touch which knocked his time up two seconds. He was thrilled to find that this included the penalty, which was then removed.
The Olympic champion from 2016, Denis Gargaud Chanut bettered Jegou’s time by 2.05 seconds to take gold. Luka Bozic of Slovakia took silver, while Tokyo 2020 champion Benjamin Savsek of Slovakia secured bronze.
In the semi-finals, Ireland’s Jake Cochrane came close to progressing, finishing 16th overall. Roberth Hendrick took 29th.
Jegou’s coach, Pedro Guerrero, is Spanish and the Ireland paddler spends a good deal of time at the course in La Seu. The encouraging results in the World Cup series also lessen the blow of a poor World Championships for Jegou. “It’s nice to bounce back,” he said.
