Team GB starts to set the White Water Course alight
30th July 2012
With such an awesome start to the Canoe Slalom competition yesterday and the drama playing out in David Florence and Richard Hounslow’s favour, day two had a lot to live up to.
Heats for the C2 Men and K1 Women were on the schedule and with the crowds flooding in early, there was a real buzz of excitement building.
Traditionally, the C2 men are a real crowd pleaser and with two crews going for Team GB there was a great opportunity for Team GB to rule the waves!
Another capacity crowd basked in the Lee Valley sunshine as competition got underway. Florence and Hounslow were first to go for Team GB, setting off 9th out of 14 crews. They got a scorching start but as they got further down the course, they picked up first two seconds, then four, then six, leaving them in the worst position of all – right on the cut off in tenth.
Having been vulnerable after their first runs in the individual competitions the day before, it seemed that they would again have to dig deep and deliver a stellar performance in round two to survive.
Tim Baillie and Etienne Stott were ranked third and justified their ranking with an inspirational performance that set the crowd ablaze as they held their form with a third place finish in round one.
After all the pair had been through with injuries last year, they seemed to be really fired up to deliver the goods when it counted.
Hot on the heels of the C2 competition came the K1 Women’s event and with some of the greatest names in women’s slalom occupying the top rankings, it was set to be a tough challenge for Lizzie Neave in her first Olympic competition.
In the selection event she ruled supreme but how would she handle the pressure of an Olympic debut? It didn’t take long to find out, as she ran clear in an impressive time to finish in 4th position, while some of the big names around her floundered. Needless to say the crowd had to be sedated afterwards and twitter came to life with endless goodwill tweets. Lizzie had really arrived!
After round one, both Baillie and Stott and Lizzie Neave were already safely through to the semi-final, so only Florence and Hounslow needed to perform in round two.
The anticipation in the crowd was incredible, as if all 12,000 spectators knew what was at stake and as they began their run, the roar was immense. It was the penalty points that put them in such a precarious position in round one so it was essential that on this run they went clear. And that’s exactly what they did, posting a time of 101.08 to finish in 7th to deafening support from the crowd.
So all boats were safely through to the semis but Lizzie Neave wasn’t leaving it there. Obviously encouraged by her first run, she blitzed down the course to move up into 2nd place in her second run and laying down the gauntlet to anyone who fancied their chances of beating her on HER course!
Talking to all the athletes afterwards they had this to say about the day.
David Florence: “We had seen the Aussies crew go slightly faster than our first run so we knew then that we were going to need this run, but it didn’t really change how we going to go about it. We had a good plan and that’s what we delivered.”
Richard Hounslow: “We paddled completely within ourselves. We knew the target we had to beat to get through and we did it pretty comfortably. We were capable of doing better than that but there was no need to risk anything.”
Etienne Stott: “We tried our best to get it all right on the first run and it came off. We have both had injuries over the last year or so which has meant we have not had as much time on this course as we had planned, but it certainly helped to know the river. At the end of the day it comes down to delivering on the day and we did that.”
Tim Baillie: “This course is the best in the world and will be a great legacy for our sport. With people both here and at home watching it on television I hope it will inspire more people to get involved.
Lizzie Neave: “I’m really happy; I went out and did what I know I’m capable of doing. On my first run I felt good, I just had a couple of time drops but I knew they were things I could easily improve on my second run which is where the time improvement came from. I was so excited, it was great to hear all the support out there, it put a smile on my face and I could hear them all the way down, I just loved it.”
There’s no rest for David Florence, he takes to the water once again tomorrow for the first of the semi-finals, in the Canoe Single.
Along with double Olympic Champions, Michal Martikan and Tony Estanguet, Florence will compete against a field of C1 pedigree, for a top 8 finish and a place in the Olympic final.
On the newly designed semi-final course there will be no room for error, with only one run to get it right and continue the Olympic dream, and with many of the field struggling for consistency over the two runs in the heats, racing is guaranteed to provide plenty of thrills and spills.
PROGRAMME:
Canoe Slalom 29th July – 2nd 2012
Tuesday 31 July -13:30 - 15:55 Men's Canoe Single (C1): Semi-final, Final
Wednesday 1 August - 13:30 - 16:10 Men's Kayak (K1): Semi-final, Final
Thursday 2 August 13:30 - 17:00 Men's Canoe Double (C2): Semi-final, Final
Women's Kayak (K1): Semi-final, Final
THE TEAM:
Men’s C1 - David Florence
Men’s K1 - Richard Hounslow
Men’s C2 - David Florence & Richard Hounslow; Tim Baillie & Etienne Stott
Women’s K1 - Lizzie Neave