Jezierski finishes seventh in 'A' final

CANOEING:NEWLY-QUALIFIED Olympian Andrzej Jezierski reached an A Final in Ireland colours at the Canoe Sprint World Cup in Duisburg in Germany yesterday. The 31-year-old won his semi-final of the C1 200 metres on Saturday, but did not have a good start in the final and finished seventh in a race won by Spain's Alfonso Benavides.

With 57 nations and more than 700 competitors, this World Cup is the biggest canoe sprint event of the Olympic year. Barry Watkins finished fifth in the A Final of the K1 500 metres yesterday, topping off a weekend in which he had also taken third in the B Final of the K1 1,000 (12th overall).

Jezierski, qualified the boat earlier this month in Poznan, Poland – from where he hails – and then finished fifth in the B Final (12th overall) in the first World Cup at that venue.

The 31-year-old won five World Championship medals, including two golds, with Poland in a run to 2005. He is set to compete in the European Senior Sprint Championships in Croatia in June before he represents Ireland in London.

Ireland’s other major contender for a medal in canoeing, Eoin Rheinisch, is training at the Olympic competition venue, Lee Valley. Rheinisch, who competes in canoe slalom, was fourth in the K1 in Beijing in 2008.

Metropolitan Regatta, the third leg of the eFlow Go Row League series, was cancelled on Saturday morning because of windy conditions on Blessington Lakes.