SZEGED, HUNGARY (August 20, 2019) – The most anticipated event of the season will be kicking off in Szeged, Hungary on August 21st. Top sprint and paracanoe paddlers from around the world will be competing at the 2019 International Canoe Federation’s (ICF) Senior World Championships.
The four-day event will feature 16 Canadian sprint athletes and 4 Canadian paracanoe athletes competing for possible Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualifications.
Two-time Senior World Champion and four-time U23 World Champion Katie Vincent (Mississauga, ON) will compete in the C1 200m and C1 5000m events.
Also competing for Canada is Mark Oldershaw (Burloak, ON), 3-time Olympian, London 2012 bronze medallist and TORONTO 2015 Pan Am games silver medallist in C1 1000m.
Another 3-time Olympian and 2012 bronze medallist, Mark De Jonge (Maskwa, NS) will compete in the K4 500m event with teammates Nicholas Matveev (Balmy Beach, ON) , Pierre-Luc Poulin (Lac-Beauport, QC) and Simon McTavish (Mississauga, ON).
The paracanoe events will be kicking things off on Wednesday morning, starting with Trinity Tratch (Calgary, AB) competing in men’s KL2 200m.
Rio 2016 paralympian Erica Scarff (Balmy Beach, ON) will then compete in women’s KL3 200m, followed by Mathieu St-Pierre (Shawinigan, QC) in men’s VL2 200m, and Andrea Nelson (Balmy Beach, ON) in women’s KL2 200m.
“The para team has been preparing here in Szeged and we have seen some great improvement from these athletes. A qualification will require a top seven finish. It will be tough, but performances earlier this summer indicate they have the potential to reach the final and after that anything is possible”, said Chief Technical Officer of CKC, Graham Barton. “The sprint team had a great pre-world camp in Kienbaum, Germany. We have several boats in the running for qualification spots. The singles events are extremely tough with a top 5 finish required for qualification. The tandems can earn a spot with a top 8 finish and the four boats can qualify if they finish 10th or better. This is our goal this week. While we can qualify additional boats at a Continental event next spring, it is always better to get as many qualified this week as possible.”
What:
2019 ICF Sprint & Paracanoe Senior World Championships
When:
Wednesday August 21 (9:00am to 6:20pm local time) (3:00am to 12:20pm EST)
Thursday August 22 (9:00am to 5:51pm local time) (3:00am to 11:51am EST)
Friday August 23 (9:00am to 6:28pm local time) (3:00am to 12:28pm EST)
Saturday August 24 (9:00am to 5:20pm local time) (3:00am to 11:30am EST)
Sunday August 25 (10:10am to 5:05pm local time) (4:10am to 11:05am EST)
Where:
Olympic Centre of Szeged
Szeged, Hungary – MAP
How to follow:
All races will be available to watch on Planet Canoe’s YouTube here, as well as on CBC Sports here.
Visit the event website here.
The Canadian entries are listed below.
| Event | Crew |
| KL2M 200m | Trinity Tratch |
| KL2W 200m | Andrea Nelson |
| KL3W 200m | Erica Scarff |
| VL2M 200m | Mathieu St-Pierre |
| K1M 200m | Alex Scott |
| K4M 500m | Mark de Jonge
Nicholas Matveev Pierre-Luc Poulin Simon McTavish |
| K2M 1000m | Brian Malfesi
Vincent Jourdenais |
| K1M 5000m | Simon McTavish |
| K1W 200m | Michelle Russell |
| K1W 500m | Madeline Schmidt |
| K2W 500m | Courtney Stott
Natalie Davison |
| K4W 500m | Courtney Stott
Lissa Bissonnette Natalie Davison Michelle Russell |
| K1W 5000m | Michelle Russell |
| C1M 1000m | Mark Oldershaw |
| C2M 1000m | Roland Varga
Connor Fitzpatrick |
| C1M 5000m | Connor Fitzpatrick |
| C1W 200m | Katie Vincent |
| C1W 5000m | Katie Vincent |
To view the ICF Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualification system, click here.
To view Canada’s Tokyo 2020 Olympic Team Criteria, click here.
To view Canada’s Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Team Criteria, click here.
Visit Canoe Kayak Canada’s website to get more information and make sure to follow @PlanetCanoe and @CanoeKayakCAN for more live updates.
Subscribe to Canoe Kayak Canada’s mailing list to get all news and results directly to your email.
About Canoe Kayak Canada
Canoe Kayak Canada (CKC) 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:
Laurel MacAdam
Communications Assistant
Colleen Coderre
Communications Lead