Mark de Jonge (photo: Denis Poulin)
GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA – It was a pristine second day of competition at the Canadian Sprint CanoeKayak Team Trials on Lake Lanier in Gainesville, Georgia. Canadian paddlers continued to push their limits in pursuit of being selected for the World Cup Tour Team.
Halifax’s Mark de Jonge won the Men’s K1 200 with an impressive lead of 1.3 seconds. Hugues Fournel of Lachine, QC was second and Richard Dober Jr. of Trois-Rivières, QC was third.
de Jonge, a 2012 Olympic bronze medalist, won a silver at last year’s World Championships and proved today he’s seriously in the hunt again this year.
“It’s really good to open the season up so strongly,” said de Jonge after his race. “We made some changes this year and it looks like those things are working so far. We’ll see how I carry through the season and I think the World Cups will be a really good check point before Worlds to make sure everything is on the right path.”
Jason McCoombs (photo: Denis Poulin)
World Cup Tour Nominations
The full World Cup Tour team will be officially named on Monday. Based on the achievement of performance standards, CanoeKayak Canada’s High Performance Committee has officially confirmed several selections today.
Men’s Kayak
| Athlete | Club | Hometown | Coach |
| Adam van Koeverden | Burloak | Oakville, ON | Scott Oldershaw / Larry Cain |
| Brady Reardon | Burloak | Burlington, ON | Dave Robertson / Scott Oldershaw |
| Ryan Cochrane | Lac-Beauport | Windsor, NS | Frédéric Jobin |
| Hugues Fournel | Lachine | Montreal, QC | Frédéric Jobin |
| Richard Dober Jr. | Lac-Beauport | Trois-Rivière, QC | Frédéric Jobin |
| Etienne Morneau | Lac-Beauport | Quebec, QC | Frédéric Jobin |
Men’s Canoe
| Athlete | Club | Hometown | Coach |
| Mark Oldershaw | Burloak | Burlington, ON | Scott Oldershaw / Larry Cain |
| Ben Russell | Banook | Dartmouth, NS | Lazlo (Csom) Latorovszki |
| Gabriel Beauchesne-Sevigny | Trois-Rivières | Trois-Rivières, QC | Lazlo (Csom) Latorovszki |
Women’s Kayak
| Athlete | Club | Hometown | Coach |
| Émilie Fournel | Lachine | Montreal, QC | Mark Granger / Franck Gomez |
| Una Lounder | Senobe | Dartmouth, NS | Mark Granger |
| KC Fraser | Balmy Beach | Oakville, Ontario | Mark Granger / Peter Martinek |
| Hannah Vaughan | Banook | Dartmouth, NS | Mark Granger / Jan Kruk |
Paddlers chase World Cup nominations on trials day two
KC Fraser of Toronto paired with Michelle Russell of Waverley, NS to squeak out a win in the Women’s K2 500. The crew narrowly edged out second place crew Émilie Fournel of Lachine, QC and Dartmouth’s Hannah Vaughan by 0.19 of a second. Genevieve Orton of Lake Echo, NS and Una Lounder of Dartmouth, NS came in third.
“We’re first time racers together and we stuck to the plan,” said Fraser with Michelle Russell adding, “I knew it was going to be a close race so I think we just put our heads down and worked as hard as we could. We just wanted to have the best race we could have.”
In Men’s C2 Gabriel Beauchesne-Sévigny of Trois-Rivières, QC and Ben Russell of Dartmouth took the top spot. Roland Varga and Paul Bryant, both of Richmond Hill, ON challenged the winning crew the whole way down the course and finished second.
“Ben and I told each other we need a world-class race today and we built on last year to come together really strong,” said Beauchesne-Sévigny. “In Europe it’s going to be again playing with race tactics, racing the fast crews and being able to have our pickups at the right times. “
Beauchesne-Sévigny and Russell are part of a small Canadian contingent racing at the first World Cup in Milan, Italy. The two won a World Cup gold medal last year in C2 1000 and finished fourth at the 2013 World Championships.
“I think we showed last year that we’re a podium-level crew so we’d like to finish up on the podium at World Championships,” said Russell, looking ahead to August.
Katie Vincent of Mississauga, ON won the Women’s C1 500. Toronto’s Taylor Potts, who won the C1 200 yesterday finished second. Seven-time World Champion Laurence Vincent-Lapointe of Trois-Rivières, QC was third.
“I was able to take the good strokes I needed to take,” said Vincent. “It was really solid, I got off on a good start and just kept the pace the whole way.
Jason McCoombs of Dartmouth, NS won the Men’s C1 200. Ottawa’s Ben Tardioli was second and Aaron Rublee of Kamloops, BC was third in a tight finish.
“I’m starting to feel like I’m getting in competition season ready-mode here. I’ve been doing a lot of work on the later half of my race,” said McCoombs who is looking to crack the A-final at this year’s World Championships. He placed thirteenth at the 2012 Olympic Games, twelfth at last year’s World Championships and won a silver at the 2013 Under 23 World Championships. “It’s starting to come together. Speed is starting to feel pretty good and I’m just working on that endurance for the second half of the race.”
In Men’s K2 1000, Philippe Duchesneau of Sherbrooke, QC and Brady Reardon of Burlington, ON took the win. Halifax’s Andrew Jessop and Rob Clarke of Toronto were second. Brian Malfesi of Maple Ridge, BC and Adam Tenwolde of Dartmouth, NS were third.
“We had quite a bit of time to work together in Florida so we felt pretty confident on the line,” said Duchesneau. “We just did our race place and no surprises, we just took control and it was a smart race.”
Competition will conclude Sunday afternoon with the full World Cup Tour Team to be announced on Monday.
CanoeKayak Canada is the national governing body for competitive paddling in Canada. The organization’s vision is to be a Canadian sport for families, communities and champions. From supporting clubs to developing a competitive National Team, CanoeKayak Canada works to grow a sport which is a rich part of Canada’s heritage.
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Media Contact:
Ian Miller
Communications and Marketing Officer, CanoeKayak Canada
613.314.1352