CANOEING SLALOM WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS:EOIN RHEINISCH goes into action in the Canoe Slalom World Championships in Tacen, Slovenia, tomorrow hoping to finish a frustrating season on a high.
The 30-year-old Irishman, who was fourth in the K1 (racing kayak) in the Beijing Olympics, has been striving to up his game as he targets a top-class performance in London in two years’ time.
His work with new coach Ettore Ivaldi this season has been challenging but satisfying, he says, but a switch to a new boatbuilder led to “one nightmare after another” and he will have a new boat from a third supplier, Galasport, when he competes tomorrow.
An ongoing problem with his left shoulder this summer saw him receive a cortisone injection in Ireland recently so he could produce his best in Tacen. “It has given me a fair bit of relief in the shoulder joint, but I am having to get fairly regular physio (treatment) out here as well.”
The three World Cups this season yielded disappointing results (26th, 23rd and 20th), but last month he finished 16th at the European Championships in Slovakia – despite competing in a boat which he had to mend with duct tape because of a leak.
The European Championships had been deferred from earlier in the season because of flooding and the prospect of high waters has been worrying the authorities in Tacen, who have made some changes in the schedule.
Rheinisch will have two runs tomorrow, and if his best run puts him in the top 40 he will go on to Sunday’s semi-final. The top 10 from the semis compete in the final later that day.
“I’d always like to be in a final at the World Championships, that is always a goal,” Rheinisch said yesterday.
At last year’s World Championships in Spain he stood fifth until the final run, and finished ninth as he went all out for a medal.
This time out, Ireland have two other competitors in the men’s K1, Ciarán Heurteau and Patrick Hynes, and a women’s K1 competitor, Hannah Craig, who is set to go into action today.
Ireland will also compete in the men’s team event on Friday. “It is not something we target or have any expectations in,” Rheinisch said.
