CANOE SLALOM: Australia’s top canoe slalom paddlers will commence their build-up for next month’s national selection trials by racing at the Australian Slalom Championships in Tasmania from the 5 to 7 January.
The Australian Slalom Championships will be staged on the upper Mersey River in Northern Tasmania. About a 1.5-hour drive from Launceston.
The three-day event is a part of the combined Australian Wildwater and Slalom Championships, and Australian Schools Championships which began on New Years day.
FOX GOING FOR THIRD STRAIGHT K1 TITLE
London Olympic silver medallist Jessica Fox will headline the event. The 21-year-old will be looking to win her third consecutive K1 title. Her fourth in five years.
Fox will be challenged by 2015 runner-up Rosalyn Lawrence and fellow NSWIS paddler Alison Borrows. All three were members of the senior team in 2015.
Local favourite Kate Eckhardt of Hobart and fellow junior Noemie Fox will be others in contention for a place on the podium after making their senior World Cup debuts in 2015.
Eckhardt was impressive at the Australian Championships in Eildon last year, winning bronze behind Fox and Lawrence.
LAWRENCE LOOKING TO UPSTAGE WORLD CHAMP AGAIN
Rosalyn Lawrence will be out to defend her Australian C1 title after upsetting world champion Jessica Fox in 2015.
Less than a second separated the pair in the final last year with a clean run from Lawrence the difference after Fox collected a two-second penalty for a gate touch.
The other main contender for the title will be world number 18 Alison Borrows of Penrith.
HAIL A NEW MEN'S K1 CHAMPION?
At last year’s Australian Championships in Victoria, Alistair Anderson upstaged his more fancied rivals to win his first Australian title and we could be set to hail a new champion once again with plenty of question marks surrounding the men’s K1 field.
World number three Lucien Delfour and Victorian Jaxon Merritt will not race in Tasmania while fellow 2015 senior team member Daniel Watkins is returning from post-season surgery.
Three-time Olympian Warwick Draper, fellow Victorian Tim Anderson and Western Australian Ben Pope join the defending champion and Watkins as the likely contenders. The scene could be set for a talented junior athlete to upstage the senior contingent with Penrith paddler Angus Thompson and Victorian Tristan Carter leading an exciting younger generation of K1 paddlers.
RACE TO RIO HEATS UP
The men’s C1 event will be arguably the most intriguing race at the Australian championships with at least five men in the battle to secure the C1 berth in Rio, assuming that it is qualified at next month’s Oceania qualification event.
Defending champion Christian Fabris will be looking to defend his title but will face strong competition from 2014 champion Robin Jeffery, and NSWIS pair Ethan Hodson and Ian Borrows.
Visit the Australian Wildwater and Slalom Championships website for schedules, start lists and race results.
Courtesy Australian Canoeing
