DUISBURG, GERMANY (May 25, 2018) – A total of 24 Canadian canoe kayak sprint athletes lined up on Duisburg’s international race course on Friday morning for the second and last 2018 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup. Fifteen Canadian crews made it to the semi-finals and ten of them qualified for the big finals.
“We are looking for improvement and this certainly fits the bill,” said Graham Barton, Chief Technical Officer at Canoe Kayak Canada. “We still have a lot of work to do between now and the World Championships, but there are promising signs as we prepare for Tokyo 2020”.
“There is a total of 54 countries competing this weekend,” added Anders Gustafsson, Head Coach of the Canadian Sprint team. “These races will give us a lot of information on how to best build our team and our crews. Every single race is evaluated, and our progression is what matters most”.
The Women’s K2 500m of Courtney Stott (Ontario) and Lissa Bissonnette (Québec) had a strong finish coming third edging out Poland and Germany to make it to the big final. Pierre-Luc Poulin (Québec) and Nicholas Matveev (Ontario) also qualified for the Men’s K2 500m final.
The Women’s Canoe team took the lead in the heats. Anna Roy-Cyr (Québec) and Rowan Hardy-Kavanagh (Ontario) qualified for the A final in the Women’s C2 200m eventas well as teammates Nadya Crossman-Serb (Manitoba) and Hannah MacIntosh (Nova Scotia). The Final will take place on Saturday morning.
Laurence Vincent-Lapointe (Québec) and Katie Vincent (Ontario) qualified directly for the Women’s C2 500m final by winning their heat with a time of one minute and 53 seconds. Roy-Cyr and Hardy-Kavanagh also qualified for the big final after placing second in the semi-final behind the Japanese crew.
On the Men’s side, the crew of Roland Varga (Ontario) and Connor Fitzpatrick (Nova Scotia) placed 9thin the Men’s C2 1000m Final with a time of 3:44.083 seconds. Teammates Mark James (Nova Scotia) and Drew Hodges (Ontario) placed 1stin the B Final with a time of 3 minutes and 39 seconds.
Two Men’s Canoe crew also qualified for the Men’s C2 500m final taking place on Saturday. Stephen Frodsham (Ontario) and Evan Bezemer (Ontario) qualified by coming first in the semi-final, followed by Tom Hall (Nova Scotia) and Bret Himmelman (Nova Scotia) who place seconds.
The action will continue on Saturday and Sunday with more heats, semi-finals and finals. Visit the International Canoe Federation’s websiteto get all results and start lists and follow Planet Canoe to get all the latest updates.
Subscribe to Canoe Kayak Canada’s mailing listto get all news directly to your email or visit canoekayak.cafor more updates.
ICF Canoe Marathon World Cup
Canadian canoe sprint and marathon athlete Madeline Mitchell (Manitoba) is also representing Canada this weekend at the 2018 ICF Marathon World Cup. The international competition is taking place in Viana-do-Castelo in Portugal from May 25 to 27.
Mitchell will be racing on Saturday, May 26 in the Women’s C1 short event on a distance of 3.6 km as well as on Sunday, May 27 in the Women’s C1 15.4 km. The short event will include three laps and three portages while the long event will include four laps, three portages and one small lap.
You can find all start lists, results and live action on the International Canoe Federation website.
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.
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For more information :
Joannie Verret
Communications Coordinator
jverret@canoekayak.ca
(418) 271-3785