ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup 2, Duisburg, Germany

Day Two

The second day of racing at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup 2 in Germany provided more of the high level competition the NZ team has been facing, with a couple of surprises.

First up for the day was Teneale Hatton who finished a creditable 6th in her K1 500m B final which placed her 15th overall. Interestingly there were three countries who had two paddlers within that top 15 – interesting because Olympic rules only allow each country one paddler per Olympic event. From here Canoe Racing New Zealand will collate the data on Teneale’s performance and submit to the NZ selectors who will decide if her results warrant a nomination to the NZ Olympic Committee selectors.

In the Men’s K2 1000 B final the New Zealand pair of Darryl Fitzgerald and Steven Ferguson raced a controlled and well-paced race which earned them a convincing win. They had moved into the front of the race by the 600m mark and were never threatened, winning by 2.1 seconds. This race is will provide them with valuable information and confidence in their build up to the London Olympics.

The World Cup programme was not favourable for Lisa Carrington and Erin Taylor as the WK2 500m and K1 200m events were scheduled very close together. The NZ team were keen for the duo to tackle both these events as it is their last chance to have competition at this level before they face the Olympics. The K1 200m event was necessarily given priority and Lisa Carrington won her heat. In the semi-final she then came up against a well-performed Olympian from Hungary Natash Douchev-Janics who has come back into the sport. This semi-final was an exciting race with the Hungarian forced to achieve a sub 40 sec time to beat Lisa. This is a fast time in only average conditions and Lisa is really looking forward to going head to head tomorrow in the A final – that’s certainly going to be one race not to miss!

Lisa and Erin combined in the K2 500m, drawing a very strong semi and will have to settle for a B final berth tomorrow.

Teneale Hatton also competed in her non specialist event of the women’s K1 200m. Teneale paddled well and has made the C final and sees this racing as an excellent opportunity to develop speed for her favoured 500m event.

Results

Racing this weekend can be followed on the event website www.kanuduisburg.de.

Video of the racing is available on http://eurovision.digotel.com/icf/index.html?video_id=6152

(this link shows the K2 1000m B final)

Athlete photos available on the website http://canoeracing.org.nz/2012-london-olympics