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Erin McConnell, James Edgar and Luke McCarron have completed their individual races at the European Games, the Mixed Team Relay is up next!

Tune in to watch the Mixed Team Relay live this Saturday morning on europeangames.tv from 9am.

MCCONNELL 27TH

Erin McConnell got Irish the Triathlon campaign off to a flying start at Nowa Huta Lake in Krakow. The athletes were racing the Olympic distance in triathlon which involves a 1.5km swim, 40km bike, and finishes with a 10km run. In her debut European Games, the 23-year-old placed 27th of the 41 finishers.

McConnell, who is known for her strong swimming background, emerged from the lake in seventh position. This put her in in the front pack, and in a good place for the remainder of the race. However, thunderstorms arrived mid-way through the bike bringing about slippery and dangerous conditions meaning the Irish triathlete dropped from the front pack with two laps remaining.

The current Irish National Sprint Champion gave her reaction after the race; “I’m delighted with my performance today. My swim was strong. I think I know my weakness is cornering, and I know I was trying to be in the middle of the pack throughout the race, but a few of the laps I was near the back. That’s my mistake and something to go back on and focus on that for the next race.”

DEBUTS FOR EDGAR & MCCARRON

Team Ireland triathletes James Edgar and Luke McCarron were racing in the Men’s Individual Triathlon. Both Edgar and McCarron made their European Games debut, finishing in 41st and 47th place respectively.

Lisburn’s Edgar speaking after the race said; “I had a good second lap of the swim coming out of the water just off the front group, but I just didn’t have the power on the bike coming out of transition, which was unfortunate because the whole race came together for the run.”

Edgar who is relatively new to racing the Olympic distance will learn from his first major games experience with Team Ireland.

For Derry’s McCarron it was his first major Championships; “The European Games are something really really cool. My mum and dad came over and my girlfriend, it’s been really great getting into the village experiencing a major championship for the first time. I’m grateful for this opportunity and hopefully I can go on and keep going to major championships and start improving my performance.”