Paddle Australia National Pathways boss David Foureur believes the foundations have been set for a strong future for sprint canoeing in Australia following a solid showing at the ICF U23 and Junior World Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria (26 – 29 July 2018).
The Australian team built on the gold (McKitterick/Green K2 1000) and silver medal (McTavish K1 1000) it won on Friday with several more A-finals on Sunday, and many other strong performers across both U23 and junior competition.
“I don’t think there would be too many athletes who would be disappointed,” Foureur said.
We got into a lot of A finals, and narrowly missed winning B finals as well,” he said.
“We were just off the pace of a couple of A finals, but we are starting to knock on the door and I think things are starting to evolve through our junior ranks.”
In Sunday results, Sydney’s 16-year old Kailey Harlen, competing on her first Australian team since taking up sprint canoeing just 12 months ago, finished sixth in the final of the junior women’s K1 500 and after winning her semifinal.
The U23 men’s K4 500 team of Jayden Ellis (SA), Joel McKitterick (QLD), Thomas Green (QLD) and Simon McTavish (NSW) finished eighth in their final, while Shannon Reynolds (WA) and Brianna Massie (QLD) were ninth in the U23 K2 500 final.
Australia’s junior K4 500 team of Daniel Kucharski (SA), Jesse Kneebone-Ellis (SA), Harrison Armstrong (NSW) and Thomas Hughes (NSW) finished a close second in their B final.
Queenslanders Tiarnee Massie and Mackenzie Duffy were third in their junior K2 500 B final, Chris Kither (SA) was eighth in the B final of the K1 men’s U23 500, and Carter Brodhurst-Hill (QLD) was sixth in the C final of the junior K1 500.
“The athletes prepared well,” Foureur said. “Last year coming in we had a lot of sickness. This year they’ve come in and I think all paddled up to expectations.”
Foureur said it’s important for a country to always prepare for generational change, and that the results in Plovdiv show the future of sprint canoe in Australia is in good hands.
“Those U23 boys have certainly put their hands up, and with Tokyo just two years away, they’re going to be knocking right on the door,” Foureur said.
“That upward pressure is great for the men, and from our women’s point of view, our U23 girls were in the final of the K4 and K2, and young Kailey Harlen in the K1 500 was a phenomenal result. Sixth place in a final for someone who has only been paddling about 18 months, she is a star of the future.”
Other highlights of the 2018 ICF Canoe U23 and Junior World Champs included Queenslanders Joel McKitterick and Thomas Green, who stormed to gold on Friday (27 July) winning the U23 K2 1000 title by more than two seconds. It was 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.
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.
Adding to the Australian excitement on Friday was a silver medal to Simon McTavish (NSW) in the U23 K1 1000.
See Friday’s media release here: https://mailchi.mp/paddle.org.au/canoe-sprint-u23-junior-worlds-day2goldsilver
U23 Team members Tom Green and Josephine Bulmer (SA), who finished second in her U23 C1 200m B-final on Friday, now continue on to contest the Senior Canoe Sprint World Championships in Montemor o Velho, Portugal from 23 – 26 August 2018.
See results here: http://results.imas-sport.com/imas/regatta.php?competition=wettkampf_184
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