History was made for Ireland in France yesterday as Irish paddler Liam Jegou won the men’s C1 class at the World Slalom Canoeing Cup - the country's first gold medal at that level.
Jegou, who is based in Pau, where the event was held, trains regularly on the course, and put that experience to good use putting in a stunning run of 100.35 seconds to beat Vaclav Chaloupka of the Czech Republic into second place.
He had booked his place in the final after the fastest run of the day in Friday’s qualification round and a sixth place in the semi-final.
It was a satisfactory conclusion to a truncated season and sets up Jegou nicely for next year’s Tokyo Olympics, for which he has already qualified.
In the women’s K1 race, 2012 Olympian Hannah Craig made a promising return to racing when finishing 13th.
Competing in the men’s K1 class was junior paddler Tom Morley who went out in the qualification round.
