Canada on top of the podium at Sprint Canoe and Paracanoe World Championships
Paddle to Paris – 12 Olympic, 2 Paralympic quotas
Duisburg, Germany (August 28, 2023) – Canada captured 12 medals, including 5 gold medals, at the ICF Sprint Canoe and Paracanoe World Championships in Duisburg, Germany. Canada also secured a total of 12 quota spots for the 2024 Olympic Games and two quotas for the 2024 Paralympics. The overall medal standings ranked Canada in 3rd place behind Germany and Spain for the Olympic disciplines, and sixth on the Paracanoe medal standings.
Tokyo Olympic Bronze medallist, Katie Vincent (Mississauga Canoe Club) put on a remarkable canoe sprint clinic on the final day of competition, winning gold in the C1 500m, C2 mixed 500m with Connor Fitzpatrick, and the C1 5000m. Katie’s comeback in 5k race was revered as one of the best comebacks ever, grinding back from second last place on the first lap to World Champion on the finish line with a time of 25:57.25. Katie also paddled to a bronze medal finish in the C2 500m on Saturday with partner Sloan Mackenzie (Cheema Aquatic Club).
Vincent reacted on social media saying, “A week I will always remember! We had some broken bones a few months back but your faith and trust in me to come back stronger made this weekend all the better!” She went on to humbly thank her teammates, family, friends and all the support team around her.
The men’s and women’s K4 500m crews both finished 10th overall. Their outstanding efforts in Duisburg locked up an impressive 8 quota spots for Canada for Paris 2024. Michelle Russell raced a career personal best to punch Canada’s spot on the start line in K1 500m.
Sophia Jensen (Cascades) also contributed to the quota count, finishing 6th in her C1 200m final, and on quota reallocation, snapped up the last available spot for Canada.
Paralympian Brianna Hennessy (Ottawa River Canoe Club) had a banner event, securing a silver medal in the VL2 200m, bronze in the KL1 200m event, and a quota spot for Canada for Paris 2024. Rio Paralympian, Erica Scarff (Mississauga Canoe Club) also hit the podium with a silver medal in the VL3 200m event securing the second qualification spot for the 2024 Paralympics.
“The performances in Duisburg exceeded our expectations and we witnessed results that are a direct reflection of the hard work and commitment of this entire team,” said CKC’s Chief Technical Officer, Ian Mortimer. “We are thrilled with the quotas we have secured for Paris thus far and are very proud of this unified team!”
There were several other narrow podium misses and outstanding performances for Team Canada worth mentioning.
Here is Duisburg 2023, Team Canada by the numbers:
Medalists:
GOLD
Katie Vincent – C1 500m
Katie Vincent & Connor Fitzpatrick – C2 mixed 500m
Katie Vincent – C1 5000m
Rachel Cohen/Maddy Schmidt – K2 Unified
Matthew Casey/Laurent Lavigne – K2 Unified
SILVER
Brianna Hennessy – VL2 200m
Erica Scarff – VL3 200m
Jacy Grant – C1 1000m
Maddy Schmidt – K1 5000m
BRONZE
Katie Vincent/Sloan Mackenzie – C2 500m
Brianna Hennessy – KL1 200m
Sophia Jensen/Sloan Mackenzie/Jacy Grant/Julia Lilley Osende – C4 500m
Top 10 in the world:
Toshka Besharah Hrebacka – 4th – K1 200m
Simon McTavish – 4th – K1 5000m
Brian Malfesi/Vincent Jourdenais – 5th – K2 1000m
Sophia Jensen – 6th – C1 200m
Michelle Russell – 6th – K1 500m
Gabe Ferron-Bouius – 8th – KL3 200m
Mathieu St. Pierre – 8th – VL2 200m
Connor Fitzpatrick – 9th – C1 1000m
Pierre Luc Poulin/Simon McTavish – 9th – K2 500m
Courtney Stott/Riley Melanson/Nat Davison/Toshka Besharah-Hrebacka -10th – K4 500m
Nick Matveev/Pierre Luc Poulin/Simon McTavish/Laurent Lavigne – 10th – K4 500m
For full results on the ICF site, click here.