PUSPURE POWERS INTO OLYMPIC SEMI-FINAL

In her third Olympic Games, the current World Champion in the Women’s Singles Sanita Puspure won her quarter-final in impressive style in today’s race in Tokyo, and will now compete in the semi-final A/B next Tuesday. 

The Women’s Pair of Monika Dukarska and Aileen Crowley and the Lightweight Women’s Double of Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey also progressed to the semi-finals from their repechages this morning. There was disappointment for the Men’s Double of Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne though, whose sixth place finish in the semi-final in 6.49.06 was not enough to progress to the A Final.

Indeed, it was a busy morning on the water all round for Ireland as Liam Jegou was also competing in his first Canoe Slalom heat, while Annalise Murphy was the first of the Irish sailors in action.

The second of Team Ireland’s gymnasts, Meg Ryan, was also competing today in the women’s qualification in the All-Around this morning finishing with an overall score of 47.199 to round out a busy morning once more for Team Ireland.

CANOEING:

Liam Jegou got his C1 Canoe Slalom campaign underway at the Kasai Canoe Slalom Centre posting a time of 174.57 in his first run of the heats after picking up a missed gate penalty.

“A shaky start I’ll call it,” said Canoeing Ireland Performance Director, Jon Mackey, after the first run “We dropped an edge mid-course, but had a lovely opening, the start of the course was nice and tight, nice and technical.”

Jegou has a second run later today, with Mackey adding: “It’s good to get the nerves out of the way on the first run and get a feel for it. I think he’ll come back a lot stronger in the second run.”

The top 15 after both runs are completed will progress to the semi-finals.

GYMNASTICS:

The second of Ireland’s two gymnasts competing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Meg Ryan, completed her women’s qualification in the All-Around this morning with an overall score of 47.199

Her display currently sees her sitting in 25th position at the culmination of subdivision 2 but she will have to wait until later today to see who progresses to the final, when the 24 gymnasts with the highest cumulative score across all apparatus will qualify for the All-Around finals.

Full results will be available after all five subdivisions are completed later today but Ryan was proud of her performance, scoring 10.466 on the balance beam, 12.000 on the floor, 13.200 on the vault and 11.533 on the uneven bars.

“I’m feeling great!” she said afterwards. “To officially be an Olympian is just amazing, it’s surreal. It’s been an amazing experience overall, just looking around and taking it all in. I knew that no matter what happens I was just going to try and enjoy it and be happy with the fact that this is the Olympics and I am an Olympian!”

The senior Irish gymnast, who delivered Ireland’s first World Cup podium finish at the 2019 World Challenge Cup in Turkey winning silver on Uneven Bars, admitted that there were some nerves in her first routine.

“Definitely a bit of nerves for me at the start, I think the beam is always a shaky one to start on anyway. In my own head, a silly mistake was made and it’s something that wouldn’t normally happen. I know these things happen on the day and especially when you’re nervous. I was a bit nervous and shaky. I got into it though, and after that I tried to put it behind me and focus on the rest and I think I did a good job with that and I was happy with the rest of the performance,” she concluded.

ROWING:

In her third Olympic Games, defending World Champion in the Women’s Singles Sanita Puspure won her quarter-final in today’s race in Tokyo, and will now compete in the semi-final A/B next Tuesday. Her quarter-final race included World Bronze Medallist Kara Kohler from the USA, who was the early leader in the 2,000m race. Following a steady start, Puspure found her speed and moved up the field, before taking the lead with 500m to go. She finished in a time of 7.58.3, over a second clear of Kohler, while China’s Yan Jiang finished third, in the final qualification position.

The Women’s Pair of Monika Dukarska and Aileen Crowley also progressed to the semi-finals in their event, taking the third qualification spot in the repechage, with a time of 7.31.99. The Killorglin duo were relieved to keep the momentum, and will now set their focus on competing for the three places on offer for the A Final on Tuesday.

Speaking after the race Dukarska was relieved to be through to the top 12, especially following the uncertain year: “To be honest, it feels great. I suppose it was an uncertain time right up to getting here. Initially we had to defend our seats and make sure we were in the boat. We are progressing through each stage, and now the next focus is to get through the semi-final and get to the A Final. We are quite good at focusing on the process, so we are going to focus on that.”

The Lightweight Women’s Double of Margaret Cremen and Aoife Casey also finished third in their repechage, in a time of 7.23.46, and will compete in the semi-finals A/B. The Cork crew qualified for Tokyo in the final Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne in May, and have benefitted from the extra year of training.

There was disappointment for the Men’s Double of Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne, whose sixth place finish in the semi-final in 6.49.06 was not enough to progress to the A Final. They will now compete in the B Final and will race for seventh place.

Tomorrow’s regatta has been cancelled due to an expected typhoon in Tokyo, with the racing set to continue on Day Four (Tuesday, July 27th), when the Lightweight Men’s Double, Lightweight Women’s Double and the Women’s Pair compete in their semi-finals, aiming for a top three finish in their respective races. Puspure will compete next on Day Five (Wednesday, July 28th) in the Women’s Single, while the same day will also see the Women’s Four in the A Final and the Men’s Double in the B Final.

SAILING:

Team Ireland’s Annalise Murphy is the first Irish sailor to take to the water at Enoshima Island today as the sailing action officially gets underway. This Games marks the Olympic silver medallist’s third Games appearance in the women’s single-handed event. Racing in the Laser Radial, the 10-race series began today to decide the top 10 places for a medal race finale on Sunday, August 1st. The opening race has just concluded, with Annalise now lying in 35th place after race one, with the second race currently delayed due to poor weather conditions.

MORNING RESULTS DAY TWO: JULY 25TH, 2021

CANOEING:

Men’s C1 Canoe Slalom, Heats 1st Run: Liam Jegou, 174.57

GYMNASTICS:

Women’s Qualification, Subdivision 2: Meg Ryan, Accumulative Total of 47.199

Breakdown:

Beam – 10.466

Floor – 12.000

Vault – 13.200

Uneven Bars – 11.533

ROWING:

Women’s Single – Sanita Puspure 1st with 7.58.3 (progresses to semi-finals)

Women’s Pair – Monika Dukarska and Aileen Crowley 3rd with 7.31.99 (progress to semi-finals)

Lightweight Women’s Double – Aoife Casey and Margaret Cremen 3rd with 7.23.46 (progress to semi-finals)

Men’s Double – Philip Doyle and Ronan Byrne 6th with 6.49.06 (progress to B Final)

SAILING:

Laser Radial, Race 1: Annalise Murphy – 35th

DAY TWO SCHEDULE (ALL TIMES ARE IRISH TIME): JULY 25TH, 2021

TBC* Sailing – Annalise Murphy – Laser Radial Race 2 (*delayed due to weather)

07:08 Canoeing – Liam Jegou – Men’s Slalom, Heat 2nd Run

09:36 Equestrian – Heike Holstein and Sambuca – Dressage

11:07 Swimming – Danielle Hill – Women’s 100m Backstroke, Heat 3

11:45 Swimming – Mona McSharry – Women’s 100m Breaststroke, Heat 5

12:42 Boxing – Emmet Brennan – Men’s Light Heavyweight, Round of 32

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