POZNAN, POLAND / BRANDENBURG, GERMANY (May 27, 2019) – Canada’s top sprint and paracanoe paddlers made their country proud this weekend, earning a combined total of ten medals at two international competitions. Four of those were earned at the International Canoe Federation’s (ICF) first World Cup in Poland, with the remaining collected by junior athletes at the Brandenburg International Regatta in Germany.
The headliners at the World Cup this weekend were Canadians Laurence Vincent-Lapointe (Trois-Rivières, QC) and Katie Vincent (Mississauga, ON) maintaining their unbeaten record and winning gold on Sunday in the women’s C2 500m Olympic event. Katie claimed another gold medal in the C1 5000m long distance race as well. On Saturday, the Canadian duo crowded the podium in C1 200m with Laurence taking gold with a time of 45:265, followed closely by teammate Katie who won the silver with a time of 46:413.
“The game plan from the beginning was just to try and maintain control of the boat and how we were feeling, and just try and make decisions as we go,” said Vincent. “We’ve worked a lot on those parts of our relationship, and being able to communicate and work those things out. We’ve come a long way and it’s made our boat faster.”
In addition to the women’s canoers, the men’s K4 crew posted an outstanding result, finishing 4th in an exciting race against Germany, France and Portugal. The Canadian crew includes 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Mark de Jonge (Maskwa, NS), Nicholas Matveev (Balmy Beach, ON), Pierre-Luc Poulin (Lac Beauport, QC) and Simon McTavish (Mississauga, ON).
Canadian Para athletes were successful as well with all three making the finals. Trinity Tratch (Calgary, AB) came 9th in the KL2 200m event. Teammate Mathieu St-Pierre (Shawinigan, QC) came 8th in VL2 200m, and Erica Scarff (Balmy Beach, ON) placed 7th in KL3 200m.
The Brandenburg International Regatta was the second international event of the weekend, where Canadian Junior athletes dominated. Sophia Jensen (Cascades, QC) won C1 200m for the Junior and U23 category, as well as the C1 500m Junior event. Teammate Julia Lilley Osende (Mic Mac, NS) won the C1 1000m Junior race on Sunday. The two athletes also competed in the C2 500m Junior event where they once again took home the gold medal. Cameron Low (Balmy Beach, ON) did exceptionally well in his events, coming 4th in the K1 1000m Junior event.
“I was very impressed by the results here in Poznan at World Cup 1 and in Brandenburg where our juniors took on a strong German field”, said Graham Barton, CKC Chief Technical Officer. “I believe we have raised the standards and most have raised their performance level and closed the gap on the rest of the world. Laurence and Katie showed their dominance again even in challenging conditions and the Men’s K4 is a good example where every race now they are consistently battling with the rest of the world and progressing toward the podium.”
For a full list of results for World Cup 1, click here.
For a full list of results for the Brandenburg International Regatta, click here.
The Canadian paddlers will be competing in the second ICF World Cup this coming weekend (May 30th – June 2nd) in Duisburg, Germany. The 2019 Canadian Sprint/Paracanoe World Championship Team, who will compete in Szeged, Hungary from August 21st – 25th will be selected following this second World Cup event.
World Cup 2 will be livestreamed on the ICF website and on the CBC sports website.
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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Laurel MacAdam
Communications Intern
Colleen Coderre
Communications Lead