GB sprinters power their way through to the 200m finals
10th August 2012After high quality performances from GB in the longer distances earlier in the week, the last two days of competition of the Olympic Canoe Sprint programme are all about the fast and furious 200m. This short, punchy distance makes a debut on the Olympic programme here in London and the explosive action is certainly a crowd pleaser. With the sunshine out and minimal wind, the conditions were ideal for the heats and semi finals today.
In the men’s K1 (Kayak Single), Ed McKeever, who has been on the podium for the last three years was up against defending World Champion Piotr Siemionowski and Maxime Beaumont, France who finished just ahead of him at the Europeans, in his semi-final.
Exploding away from the start, McKeever made no mistake of letting the field know this was his home territory and there’s one thing on his mind, Gold. He took the early lead and maintained great rhythm and speed though the course to cross the finish line in first place, ahead of Maxime Beaumont, Miklos Dudas, Hungary and Germany’s Ronald Rauhe.
Commenting on his race, Ed McKeever:
"It was an amazing race in front of the home crowd; obviously, it's nice to win the semi-final but tomorrow is when the racing really matters.”
Beijing Olympian Jess Walker was back in action in Women’s K1 200m, and knew what to expect of the home crowd having already achieved something that British Sprint canoeing hasn’t seen since 1984, competing in the K4 500m final earlier in the week, with; Rachel Cawthorn, Angela Hannah and Louisa Sawers.
Having qualified through to the semi final, Jess found herself on the back foot after a slightly slow start, but as the leader Japan’s Shinobu Kitamoto started to fade Jess took charge and moved up the field to finish in second place in a time of 41.734, booking her second Olympic final of the week.
Jess commented on her race: "I knew I had the easier semi so I knew that I wanted to get a top two finish. When I crossed the line I thought I was third; I thought that Japan had just beaten me so when I found out I was second I was just like thank you, thank you. In tomorrow’s final I will be happy with anything as long as I race my best."
In tomorrow’s final, Jess will have former K1 500m Olympic Champion Inna Osypenko-Radomska (UKR) and World Champion Lisa Carrington to contend with. New Zealand’s Carrington qualified for the finals with a new Olympic best time (40.528).
For the men’s K2 (Kayak Doubles) European Champions Liam Heath and Jon Schofield a false start from the Romanian crew in the semi final seemed to put them off their concentration, seeing them slower way from the start buckets than normal. But as race unfolded, stroke by stroke they clawed back and with a strong finish ended up qualifying to the finals in second position (32.940), just behind the Russian pairing of Yury Postrigay and Alexander Dyachenko (32.051), who have shown great strength and power through theses early stages of this Olympic competition.
Following their semi final Jon Schofield commented:
"We gave the Russians too much at the start today, we need to rectify that for tomorrow’s final, and now we are in it there’s everything to play for.
In the men’s C1, it was Richard Jefferies up on the start line. In the heats, Jefferies got out the buckets well, and was up with the front runners holding on to qualify through in third. In the semis Jefferies couldn’t quite replicate his performance, narrowly missing out on a b final place; coming sixth in a time of 43.213 with only the top five go through to the finals.
Reflecting on the race Richard said:
“I felt really good in my heat today and it felt smooth and easy, I just don't know what happened in the semi. I felt like I was going hard but just not getting anywhere, the GPS says that I just didn’t get as faster start as usual”
With three GB boats in the 200m finals tomorrow and a home crowd roaring with support, it’s bound to be an incredible, electrifying finish to the canoe sprint programme.
The 200m finals take place at 09:30 – 10:41.
GB Canoe Sprint 200m athletes
Men’s K1 Ed McKeever
Men’s K2 Jon Schofield & Liam Heath
Men’s C2 Richard Jefferies
Women’s K1 Jess Walker