Rheinisch and Heurteau miss out

CANOEING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS:A WEEKEND of missed chances for the Ireland team as the Canoe Slalom World Championships in Bratislava concluded yesterday where Ciarán Heurteau could only finish 28th in the men's K1 semi-final, well outside a qualification place for the boat for London 2012. In the less serious team event yesterday evening Ireland finished 16th.

Heurteau was steady through the opening stages of his K1 semi-final, albeit he was given a two-second penalty for a touch on gate nine, but his time of 104.99 left him too far down the field to put the Irish among top 15 nations who qualify for the Olympic Games.

Eoin Rheinisch, who was fourth in Beijing four years ago, had devoted the last year since surgery on his shoulder to peaking at these Championships, basing himself in Bratislava for weeks on end. But the event was a car crash for him – in more ways than one.

Although he did not want to talk about it, he confirmed to The Irish Times that a minor road accident on the night before his under-par performance on Friday had left him on the side of the road for over three hours as he tried to obtain a police report in Slovak for his car hire company.

What most riled him was that he failed to deal with the simplicity of the test. He had prepared for a tough technical challenge, and it was anything but. “I had no idea they would set such a simple course,” he said. His speed was just off on the first run, and he ran out of steam late in the second and ended up with multiple penalties on the last few gates.

Karl Dunne, the honorary secretary of the Irish Canoe Union, said the union was “very disappointed” at the team performance. “We went into that Championships looking to qualify two boats for the Olympics. We’ve done nothing.” The course in the heats was “there for the taking” he added. “There was low-hanging fruit.”

The remaining hope of qualifying for London 2012 is the European Championships in May in Augsburg in Germany.

For Rheinisch, it is a second chance, with the possibility of having a good winter’s training behind him this time. “It certainly isn’t ideal, and it was a disastrous weekend for me. The pits. But if there is any chance at all, I’m going to be gunning for it.”