Jenny Egan-Simmons and Patrick O'Leary progress to Canoe Sprint European Championship semi-finals

Jenny Egan-Simmons and Patrick O'Leary both progressed to semi-finals on the opening day of the Canoe Sprint European Championships in Munich.

Dubliner Egan-Simmons was seventh in her 500m kayak single heat in 2:01.205, seven seconds behind winner Anamaria Govorcinovic of Croatia, but advanced to the semi-final tomorrow afternoon (4.30pm Irish time).

Para-canoeist O'Leary was fifth in his Va'a single 200m heat in 1:03.838 and goes again at 11.30am tomorrow.

The Corkman said he had been hampered by back spasms after training yesterday and had to race conservatively as a result.

The championships are taking place under the banner of the European Championships at the Regattastrecke Oberschleißheim, which was originally built for the 1972 Olympic Games.

Not my best race today at European championships. Back spasms after training yesterday meant a conservative race to get to semifinal tomorrow in the hope it eases overnight. We'll do what we can pic.twitter.com/NXzeG0lecL