With a significant shift in the weather day two of the World Championships got off to a calm start in bright sun shine.
After the extremely difficult conditions of day one, the athletes were relieved to set about the 500m heats without the added challenge of the waves. The heats went to plan with all the GB boats making it through to the afternoon’s semi finals.
Rachel Cawthorn (21 years old) again showed her finesse and class in the WK1 500m semi final finishing in 2nd place behind Katrin Wagner-Augustin multi gold medallist at Olympic Games and World Championships in a Personal Best time of 1.48.784 sec , qualifying her 2nd final place of the Championships.
After making a strong start to his comeback campaign for 2012 yesterday in the MK1 1000m, Tim Brabants K1M 500m Olympic bronze medallist took to the water for the semi final of the 500m. In a strong semi final Brabants battled it out to the line with Olympic Champion Ken Wallace finishing just behind him in 2nd place securing his 2nd final of the Championship.
Tim Brabants MK1 comments:
“I was happy with the race today but its tough knowing it is not an Olympic event any more, the event is still very competitive though and good training for the 1000m event. The 1000m tomorrow is going to be a very tough final; hopefully the conditions are as good as they are today. I am just going to go out and try and race as fast as I used to."
Having made the final in the K1W 1000m yesterday the new pairing of Jenna Hawkey and Angela Hannah who have only been competing together in K2 since the European Championships in June, gave it their all in a fast and furious race to try and make a top three spot, and make it into another final. Fighting hard to stay in the race they finished in 6th missing out on a finals spot.
Demonstrating their potential yesterday in the MK2 1000m the young crew of Jon Boyton (22 years old) and Ed Rutherford (20 years old) took to the water in the knowledge that they are in form to challenge for a final spot in the MK2 500m . Paddling in unison the crew made a final push in the last 200m to try and rein the South Africans in for the 3rd spot, Boyton and Rutherford just missed out on the final by one place finishing in 4th.
Ed Rutherford and Jon Boyton MK2 comment on their race:
“We were pleased with how close it was it’s never nice to miss out on a final by such a small amount. We raced our best race so there are no regrets. We are looking forward to coming back and going better next year after another year of training.”
As the sun started to dip the WK4 warmed up ready to qualify their place for Sundays final. Working together smoothly and laying down their power Edmonds, Cawthorn, Manson and Sawers flew down the course dominating from the outset winning the race ahead of the Chinese to secure their place in the final.
Trevor Hunter & Miklos Simon Women’s K4 Coaches comment on their performance:
“It was a fantastic performance from all the girls, especially from Abi who is the youngest member of the team with a big job to do stroking the boat. At this moment it looks like they will be challenging for a medal in the final”
John Anderson Performance Director comments:
“We have had the 1000m and 500m and have made 6 A Finals, this is a very positive position with the 200m qualifying still to come tomorrow.”
Tomorrow is going to bring another day of exciting racing with the qualifying for the 200m and the first medals of the championships up for grabs. Great Britain will be competing for medals in three finals, Rachel Cawthorn, European Champion will be racing for gold in the WK1 1000m final, Olympic gold medallist Tim Brabants will be racing in his first Championship final since the Olympics and Jenna Hawkey and Angela Hannah will be competing in their first World Championship K2 final.
More information, startlists and results can be found at the official event website -
http://www.kayak2010.com