Equestrian Sport: Ireland's show jumpers continued their incredible run of success over the weekend, scoring a third consecutive Nations Cup victory in just over a fortnight to take the lead in the season-long Samsung series, writes Grania Willis.
This latest victory came at the Norwegian Nations Cup fixture in Drammen where chef d'equipe Lt-Col Gerry Mullins' tactic of keeping the two Army horses out of Saturday's Grand Prix in order to rest them for the Cup paid off when both jumped double clears yesterday. Deteriorating ground conditions had been behind Mullins' decision and the entire show had been under threat of cancellation on Friday after heavy rain.
Anchorman Captain Gerry Flynn, whose clear when last to go with Rincoola Abu had clinched the Helsinki Cup a week ago, had switched to the more experienced Carrig Dubh, which duly obliged with a brace of clears, while Lt Shane Carey was also foot-perfect with Shannondale in both rounds.
The Army riders' zero tallies were mirrored by Cian O'Connor's double clear with Waterford Crystal, which left the Irish on a clean sheet at the finish. It could so easily have gone down to a jump-off for the Cup as the Germans had been level with Ireland at the halfway stage, with Belgium and the hosts sharing third place on four faults. But, while the Irish maintained their form, Germany's second rider made a single mistake.
Canoeing: Ian Wiley expressed himself pleased that his form was returning after he finished ninth in the K1 final at the European Slalom championships at Mezzana in Italy yesterday. Pierpaolo Ferazzi won the event, writes Liam Gorman.
Wiley, who has had poor results in big races this year, said he was "quite nervous" in the qualifying stages and was a little lucky to reach the 20-boat final. "Once I was in I could show my form and if it wasn't for a penalty, I would have been only .2 or .3 of a second outside a medal," he said.
Women's K1 competitor Eadaoin Ni Challarain finished 26th although she was unlucky to damage her boat before her second run and had to use a different one. Men's C1 competitor Tadhg McIntyre finished 32nd.
Rowing: Sinead Jennings confirmed her battling qualities to take a silver medal for Ireland in the women's lightweight single sculls at the World Cup regatta in Vienna yesterday. The 23-year-old former triathlete could only secure fourth place in the heats in dreadful conditions. But she won her repechage on Saturday and yesterday repeated her outstanding second place finish at the first World Cup regatta in Munich.
Meanwhile, back at home, Commercial coach Mick Desmond has settled on a lightweight women's quadruple scull which will join Jennings and lightweight singles sculler, Sam Lynch at the third world regatta at Lucerne next month. The quad will be Vanessa Lawrenson, Maedhbh Terry, Ruth Doyle and Ailis Holohan.
