CanoeKayak Canada selects 26 athlete team to compete at World Cups - May 8th, 2012

OTTAWA, ON – CanadaKayak Canada will take 26 athletes to compete at World Cups in Poznan, Poland from May 18 to 20 and Duisburg, Germany from May 25-27. The team was selected based on results at Sprint Team Trials held in Lake Lanier, Georgia from May 4 to 6. The athletes will head overseas on Thursday.

World Cups will be used as part of the selection process for the Canadian Olympic Team. Canada has qualified boats for five sprint events at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Adam van Koeverden has already guaranteed himself the Men’s K1 1000 metre spot with a win at Sprint Team Trials last Friday. Van Koeverden may also race a third World Cup in Moscow from June 1 to 3. He says World Cups are all about getting ready to produce his best result in London.

“Those races are important for me – just more indications of what I should work on for the final eight or seven weeks of preparation before London” van Koeverden said after his race at trials on Friday. “I’ve had a lot of successes at World Cups over the years but really I’m just focused on London.”

In Men’s C1 1000 and C1 200, the Olympic entry has been narrowed down between two athletes. Mark Oldershaw and Ben Russell will compete for the top Canadian result in the 1000, and Aaron Rublee and Jason McCoombs will do the same in the 200. As winners at Sprint Team Trials, Oldershaw and Rublee need to place better than their opponent at one of two World Cup races to secure their spot for London while the others need to be the top Canadian in both races.

In Men’s K2, Canada has one Olympic entry. Crews will race to prove their medal potential in their respective events, the K2 200m and the K2 1000m, before the final selection is made.

Two crews already have one win each, Richard Dober Jr. and Steven Jorens in the K2 1000 metre, and Ryan Cochrane and Hugues Fournel in the 200 metre event. Philippe Duchesneau and Chris Mehak will be challengers in the K2 1000 and Connor Taras and Austin Denman will challenge in the K2 200. Both crews placed second at Sprint Team Trials and could be considered for Olympic selection if they place as the top Canadian crew at both World Cups.

“We’re going to Europe to give it our best and have our best races,” said Jorens. “With all of the training and preparations we’ve done, we’re feeling confident going into this.”

Rhys Hill of Ottawa will race the K1 200 metre events at World Cups. The Men’s K1 200 metre entry will be selected at the second set of Sprint Team Trials in Montréal from June 22 to 24. CanoeKayak Canada’s final nominations to the Canadian Olympic Committee will be officially announced after the trials in June.

Burlington’s Brady Reardon will compete in the K1 1000, K1 500 and K1 5000 metre.

Émilie Fournel, Kathleen (KC) Fraser and Geneviève Beauchesne-Sévigny will race in Women’s K1 events in Europe. In Women’s K4, Nicole Brown, Lissa Bissonnette, Michelle Russell and Alexa Irvin were named to the World Cup team. The crew will use the international race experience to prepare for the Under 23 World Championships being hosted on home water in Welland, Ontario from August 1 to 4, 2013.

Richmond Hill’s Roland Varga and Paul Bryant will race C2 again this year at World Cups and are already focused on developing their race plan and medal potential for the 2016 Olympic Games.

Laurence Vincent-Lapointe and Mallorie Nicholson will race in Women’s C1 and C2 events. Both are World Champions and with no World Championships taking place during the Olympic year, they will strive to defend their titles at World Cups.

World Cups will be televised on Sportsnet. A broadcast schedule will be posted at http://canoekayak.ca/english/content/broadcast

2012 World Cup Team

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For more information:

Ian Miller

Communications and Marketing Officer, CanoeKayak Canada

613.314.1352

imiller@canoekayak.ca

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