Steady start to our Canoe Sprint campaign
7th August 2012
Following on the success of Team GB’s Canoe Slalom C2s last Thursday, their was great anticipation at Dorney today as the Canoe Sprint regatta got underway.
What could have been more fitting than for our Olympic Champion from Beijing, Tim Brabants to get things started. As he was announced to the crowd they erupted with cheers and applause for a British canoeing legend. He was in the very first heat and needed to place fifth to progress to the semi finals, which he duly did to everyone’s delight.
In the semi finals he needed fourth or better this time and starting in what you might call the ‘home lane’ – lane one – he was assured of massive support. This wasn’t going to be plain sailing though as he described afterwards:
“Unfortunately I drew the outside lane on the really bad side of the course - there's a cross wind that comes across from my right-hand side, so when I saw I had drawn lane one, I knew I had my work cut out - but the roar of the crowd is incredible, and they just shouted 'Go! Go! Go!' all the way down to the end."
Tim’s capacity for digging deep was put to good use and although he came in 4th he looked stronger than in the heat. With every race he is settling and even though he’s played down the prospect of retaining his title because of the injury he sustained last year, he’s not giving up!
Adam Van Koeverden of Canada looked in truly devastating form in both his races and winning this semi final in a time of 3:28.209 ahead of Eric Veras Larsen of Norway in second and Rene Poulsen of Denmark in third
In the other semi-final, Max Hoff won in 3:29.294, which would have placed him second in the first semi-final, with Aleh Yurenia of Belarus in second and Anders Gustafsson of Sweden in third.
In the Women’s K4 with a prospect of direct qualification to the final for the first boat home, the girls went out hard. With the Hungarian squad in the same race though, looking to make it three consecutive Olympic Gold’s, it was a big ask and they came home in second with the crowd fully behind them all the way and into the semi finals.
So, to finish off day one, the women’s K4 took to the water again. Jess Walker in the front, Rachel Cawthorn behind, Angela Hannah in third spot and Louisa Sawers at the back. Once again they were drawn in lane 4 and they needed to finish in the top five to go into the final. No B finals in this race, it was all or nothing!
It was a really tight race and at times they kept everyone on the edge of their seats but they pulled it off with a strong fourth place ahead of France, Australia, Serbia and China who all went out.
Speaking afterwards, Jess Walker explained their two races: “We just made sure we did enough to go through. We were aiming to go straight through in the first heat but obviously we didn’t and then the second heat was faster so we just made sure we were top five”
Poland won the race, with Belarus in second and Russia in third.
Looking forward to the final and with the prospect of rest for Jess and Angela before the finals, the girls are feeling confident of a good showing on Wednesday in what will be a historic day for Team GB’s women with the first crew boat to reach an Olympic final since the eighties.
Also in action was Richard Jefferies in the C1 1000m. A 200m specialist Rich’s run was all about ensuring he gave it his best shot and an opportunity to learn from the experience on the Olympic course and the support of the crowd ahead of his main event on Friday. He too qualified for the semi finals where he finished 8th and will now contest the B final on Wednesday.
The women will be the focus for GB on day two of racing at Eton, Dorney in the K1 500m and K2 500m; and having secured a place in the K4 500m they will be hoping to continue their success.
Rachel Cawthorn will be first up in the buckets in the K1 500m heats. Cawthorn will look to use this heat as a good warm up for the semi-final, as she will contest the fourth heat which only has 6 boats and it’s 6 through the semi.
The semi-final is where the competition really begins, and for Cawthorn who has shown a steady return to form this season, finishing just outside the medals in 4th at the European Championship she will be looking to get in amongst the top runners.
The competition will inevitably come from the 2012 European Champion, Germany’s Katrin Wagner- Augustin, who is aiming for the title that has previously eluded her. Also on the start line is the reigning Olympic Champion, Inna Osypenko – Radomska from the Ukraine who will be determined to put a lack of early season form behind her.
Next up is the women’s K2 500m where Britain’s Abigail Edmonds and Louisa Sawers line up. Although having not had many races together the pairing are in fine form and will be eager to give the home crowd something to cheers about. In their heat they will face the Swedish paring of Josefin Nordlow and Karin Johansson who have showed consistent form throughout the world cup season. Edmonds and Sawers will need to finish in the top six to progress to the semi-finals.
Canoe Sprint 6th – 11th August 2012
Schedule:
Date Session Time Events
Tuesday 7 August 09:30- 11:55 Heats and Semi-Finals: Men’s K4 and C2 1000m; Women’s K1 and K2 500m
Wednesday 8 August 09:30- 11:15 Finals: Men's K1, K2 and C1 1000m; Women’s K4 500m
Thursday 9 August 09:30- 11:15 Finals: Men’s K4 and C1 1000m; Women’s K1 and K2 500m
Friday 10 August 09:30- 11:55 Heats and Semi Finals: Men’s K1, K2 and C1 200m; Women’s K1 200m
Saturday 11 August 09:30 – 11:20 Finals: Men’s K1, K2 and C1 200m; Women’s K1 200m
The Team:
Men’s K1 1000m - Tim Brabants
Men’s K1 200m - Ed McKeever
Men's K2 200m - Liam Heath & Jon Schofield
Men’s C1 1000m - Richard Jefferies
Men’s C1 200m - Richard Jefferies
Women’s K1 500m - Rachel Cawthorn
Women's K2 500m - Abigail Edmonds & Louisa Sawers
Women's K4 500m - Jess Walker, Rachel Cawthorn, Angela Hannah, Louisa Sawers
Women’s K1 200m - Jess Walker