On Saturday, Barry took bronze in the 1000m K1 class, but was always expected to perform better in his favored event the 500m. The two medal haul by Barry puts him firmly on track for the 2012 Games. Interestingly, his father Howard competed for Ireland in kayak sprint in both the 1972 and 1976 Olympics.
In the 500m final, Barry had been the fastest qualifier with a time of 1.46 seconds. In the final, despite being over a second down at half-way on his British rival, Kristian Reeves, he had the fastest split in the second sector to win with almost a second to spare from Portugese paddler and winner of the 1000m event, Fernando Pimenta. Barry’s time of 1 minute 41 seconds is a new Irish Junior record.
His time in the 1000m race, was less than half a second behind the winner. He also established, not just a junior record, but a senior Irish record with a time of 3 minutes 34 seconds.
