CANOE/KAYAK-SPRINT: The 2013 National Canoe Sprint Championships have concluded after five days of exciting racing at the Champion Lakes Regatta Course in Perth, Western Australia.

Currumbin Creek star Ken Wallace once again got the better of bitter rival Murray Stewart, adding the K1 500 national title to the K1 1000 victory he recorded on Friday.

Wallace dictated the race from the outset, crossing the finish line in 1:41.78, 1.36 seconds ahead of Stewart.  Emerging U23 star, 18 year old Bill Bain finished in third, 0.15 seconds adrift of Stewart. 

The victory capped off an excellent Nationals for the 2008 Beijing Olympics gold medallist, who has now met the criteria for selection to the World Championships Pool for selection Trial two.

"It's been a while since I raced one of them," an exhausted Wallace said after today's win.

"It's a love-hate relationship. It hurts more than the 1000, but it's half the distance.”

Gold Coast paddler Tate Smith combined with fellow London Olympic K4 gold medallist David Smith to take out the men’s K2 500 final.

K2 200 winners Steve Bird and Jesse Phillips pushed the Smith boys the whole way, but the Smith’s held on, winning in 1:33.18, just 0.04 seconds ahead of the popular Western Australians.

Bayswater duo Brendan Rice and Daniel Bowker finished third, 1.36 seconds behind the winning time.

Not to be upstaged by older brother Ken, Bernadette Wallace continued her excellent Nationals return winning a fourth National title in the K1 1000 final.

Wallace dominated the race from the outset, finishing more than five seconds ahead of Sunshine Coast 20 year old Alyce Burnett and Kawana Waters’ Hailey McGinty.

"I've been training so hard, I've had such a big winter, so to finish the Australian titles with four gold medals, this has been a great week. My most successful national titles ever."

Burnett and McGinty combined to return to the winners list with victory in the K2 1000 final. 

The Queensland duo were simply a class above their challengers winning in 4:07.93, 5.35 seconds ahead of West Lakes duo Anna Hennessy and Madison Davies, with the latter stepping up from the U18 age group.

Bayswater pair Shannon Reynolds and Jaime Roberts finished third.

Brothers Olympians Alex Haas and Jake Donaghey have completed a clean sweep of the C2 events, adding the 500m title to their victories over 1000m and 200m over the past two days.

"Our expectations weren't too high, we just wanted to see where we're at, what we've got to improve on," Donaghey said.

"It really is just a starting point for us."

"For the short amount of work we've done we're obviously happy," Haas said.

Former Hungarian World Champion Laszlo Foltan once again proved too strong, taking out the C1 500 final today in dominant fashion.

The 29 year old won in 2:10.65, 1.77 seconds ahead of New South Welshman Marius Florian, with Haas settling for third, 1.36 seconds further behind.

In the first race of the final day, Penrith paracanoeist Colin Sieders won the men’s K1 500 arms only final, 5.92 seconds ahead of yesterday’s 200m winner Gary Connor.

It was a great result for Sieders, who is better known for his driving ability, with Sieders one of the leading drivers in the V8 Development Series.

"My first goal this year was to come here and race, and then obviously the long term goal is to get to Rio,” said Sieders.

"I'm ahead of where I expected to be. At the last GP3 I didn't expect to go as quick as I did, so I've had to reassess my goals."

Also announced today was the selection of senior athletes to compete at World Cups and the first selections to the 2013 World Championship Pool.

The following athletes may be selected to compete at 2013 World Cups at the discretion of the Selection Panel: Ken Wallace (K1 1000), Steve Bird (K1 200, K2 200), Jesse Phillips (K2 200), Murray Stewart (K2 1000), Jacob Clear (K2 1000), Alana Nicholls (K1 500), Jo Brigden-Jones (K1 200), Naomi Flood (K2 500) and Bernadette Wallace (K2 500).

Canoeing Australia