Paddle Australia is pleased to announce the 12-strong squad that will compete at the 2022 ICF Canoe Freestyle World Championships to be held in Nottingham, UK from the 27th of June to the 2nd of July 2022.
The Australian team selected for the event include veteran Richard Cass and 23-year-old Christopher Greed, who both return to the World Championships after representing Australia at the last edition held in Spain in 2019.
Reigning Australian Canoe Freestyle National Champion Jack Newland will also be donning the green and gold in Nottingham. The Geelong athlete made history in 2019 as a teenager when he became Australia’s first ever junior world championship medallist, taking bronze in the men’s kayak surface final.
“I feel very happy to have been selected on to the team,” said Newland after the team announcement.
“This will be my third time on the Australian team and I’m looking forward to it.
“The upcoming international season is limited for me simply because I’m a full time ‘chippy’. However, Nottingham is very soon and I’ll be there for five weeks, which will give me good time to properly prepare for the competition,” he said.
With a junior medal already in his palmares, Newland is looking forward to measuring up with the best athletes in the world, fully aware of the challenge lying ahead if he wants to realise his ambition to one day be crowned world champion.
“I believe position driven goals are dangerous, so I set myself a goal for tricks I want to do and rides I want to pull off. From that, a calculation can be made to determine a rough outcome from any competition. I just focus on myself and what I can do and achieve.
“But I’ll definitely be going full gas,” the 21-year-old said.
The ICF Canoe Freestyle World Championships at Nottinghamshire’s Holme Pierrepont Country Park will be the first time in 30 years that Great Britain has hosted the event, and the first time the event has included a Masters World Championships, alongside the junior and senior categories.
The rescheduled event was due to take place last year from 12-17 July 2021, but was postponed due to the ongoing impact of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Paddle Australia congratulates all the athletes who have been selected to their respective Australian Canoe Freestyle Teams.
