Golden McKitterick and Green Lead Australian Medal Charge at U23 World Titles

July 28, 2018

Australia’s Joel McKitterick (QLD) and Thomas Green (QLD) have stormed to gold at the 2018 ICF U23 and Junior Canoe Sprint World Championships in Bulgaria, careering away to win the U23 K2 1000 title by more than two seconds.

Adding to the Australian excitement on Friday was a silver medal to Simon McTavish (NSW) in the U23 K1 1000 in Plovdiv, capping off a solid two days of racing.

Gold Coasters McKitterick and Green were impressive in the K2, building on a measured start to finish powerfully ahead of European powerhouses Slovakia and Germany.

It’s the perfect end to a fairytale comeback to the Australian team for McKitterick, who stepped away from the national squad for two years to concentrate on his studies.

“If you had asked me yesterday, I would have said I’m not sure, maybe top three,” McKitterick said.

“Being on top now is just awesome. It’s like a long dream that everyone wants to achieve, but only a few people actually do.

“Just making it on to the team, I was pretty stoked. To just miss the senior team was a bit of a kick in the guts, so I just wanted to come here and give it a really strong crack for my last year.”

19-year old Green, who has been a member of the senior team this year, said the Australians put together a measured race.

“That first 100 metres, we don’t normally go out that hard, so we just wanted to keep the boat as smooth as possible,” he said.

“That last 200, it was all a blur. It was just pain, that was it. I didn’t know that we were that far in front, I didn’t even know we were in front. I thought they were right beside us the whole time.”

McKitterick and Green are the second Australians to win the K2 1000 U23 in recent years. Fellow Queenslanders Jordan Wood and Riley Fitzsimmons took gold in 2015, and then went on to make their Olympic debuts in 2016.

“You do think about that, and think maybe it is realistic to do what they did,” McKitterick said.

After winning his heat and his semi-final, McTavish held his form to finish a close second in the U23 K1 1000.

“It’s been a big season training, so I’m happy to come away with a medal,” he said.

“I’m a little disappointed I didn’t get the gold, but I just couldn’t get there in the end. I thought I was catching him, but I must have left it a bit late.”

“Hopefully this will be a good stepping stone, moving on to other Australian teams.”

In other results, the U23 K4 women’s team of Yale Steinepreis (WA), Brianna Massie (QLD), Keily Dober (NSW) and Shannon Reynolds (WA) finished eighth in their final, while Harrison Armstrong (NSW) and Byron Chadwick (NSW) won the B final of the junior K2 men’s 1000.