RACICE, CZECH REPUBLIC (August 25, 2017) – Canada’s Laurence Vincent-Lapointe (Trois-Rivières, QC) clocked the fastest time in the Women’s C-1 200m heats today, advancing straight through to tomorrow’s Semi-final at the ICF Canoe Kayak Sprint World Championships in Račice, Czech Republic. The defending World Cup Champion also achieved a personal best for boat speed, reaching just over 18 kilometers per hour.

Laurence Vincent-Lapointe giving her last strokes in the C-1 200m

Several other Canadians qualified for semi-finals tomorrow, including:

• the Men’s K-4 crew of Maxence Beauchesne (Trois-Rivières, QC), Ryan Cochrane (Windsor, NS), Marshall Hughes (Waverly, NS), and Pierre-Luc Poulin (Lac Beauport, QC) in the 500m distance. The foursome finds itself up against a deep, highly competitive field. They delivered a solid performance today, finishing third in a strong heat. A relatively young crew, they’ll be looking to put together another good race to earn a berth in Sunday’s “A” Final;
• Andreanne Langlois (Quebec, QC) looked hungry in finishing fourth in a tightly contested K-1 200m heat;
• the Women’s K-4 crew of Courtney Stott (Pickering, ON), Alanna Bray-Lougheed (Oakville, ON), Lisa Bissonnette (Sherbrooke, QC) and Natalie Davidson (Ottawa, ON) will need a top 3 finish in tomorrow’s semi-final to qualify for the “A” Final;
• Alex Scott (Bedford, NS) in the Men’s K-1 200m;
• former Olympic medallist, Mark Oldershaw (Burlington, ON) and teammate, Mark James (Dartmouth, NS), will be hoping to use the semi-final to bounce back from a disappointing performance in today’s heats of the C-2 1000m competition.

Competing at his first senior world championships, Jarret Kenke (Saskatoon, SK) finished fifth in his semi-final today to qualify for Sunday’s K-1 500m “B” Final.

The Men’s K4 making their way to the semi-final in the 500m race.

“We’re seeing some encouraging performances here,” said Graham Barton, Canoe Kayak Canada’s Chief Technical Officer. “In just about every event, we see Canadian athletes demonstrating that they can compete with the best in the world. But we’re a relatively young team and there’s a lot of work to be done over the next couple of years to get ready for Olympic and Paralympic qualification.”

Barton noted that this week’s championships will give athletes and coaches a clear idea of what areas they need to work on as they head into the fall training period. “The goal is to eliminate inconsistencies and improve on the parts of the races that aren’t working as well as we’d like them to,” he added.

In addition to the slate of semi-finals tomorrow, Vincent-Lapointe will team up with Katie Vincent (Mississauga, ON) to compete in the C-2 500m “A” Final. The duo clocked the fastest time in the heats on Thursday.

Watch live coverage online and find a complete summary of race results here.

About Canoe Kayak Canada

Canoe Kayak Canada is the national governing body for competitive paddling in Canada, one of Canada’s top performing summer sports with a total of 24 Olympic medals, and a leader in the Paralympic movement. Canoe Kayak Canada is a member-based organization that includes an intricate network of clubs as well as provincial, territorial and divisional paddling associations. Elite National Team athletes proudly represent Canada at various competitions around the globe – most notably the Olympic Games, Paralympic Games, Pan American Games, ICF World Cups as well as Junior, Under 23 and Senior World Championships. Follow Canoe Kayak Canada on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

-30-

For more information:
Joannie Verret
Communications Coordinator
jverret@canoekayak.ca
(418) 271-3785