The men’s K4 Worlds crew have won the second Olympic nomination trial and with be nominated to the AOC, while Lyndsie Fogarty and Naomi Flood took a step closer to nomination, and Ken Wallace, Jacob Clear and Murray Stewart are all through to Thursday’s K1 1000 final!
The men’s K4 Worlds crew have won the second Olympic nomination trial and with be nominated to the AOC, while Lyndsie Fogarty and Naomi Flood took a step closer to nomination, and Ken Wallace, Jacob Clear and Murray Stewart are all through to Thursday’s K1 1000 final!
The men’s K4 1000 crew of Gold Coast trio Tate Smith, David Smith and Jacob Clear, and Manly’s Murray Stewart have met the criteria for Olympic nomination winning their second consecutive Olympic trial and will now be nominated to the AOC for selection.
The 2011 World Championship silver medallists held off a fast finishing and spirited Western Australian crew of Reece Baker, Daniel Bowker, Brodie Holmes and Brendon Sarson in the closing stages to finish just 0.70 clear in a time of 2:54.15.
David Smith, who missed the victory in the first selection event at the Oceania Championships through a bout of acute glandular fever, kept his Olympic nomination hopes alive through his performance today.
The Australian Canoeing Selectors now need to determine whether Smith or Ken Wallace, who raced as a replacement for Smith at the first Nomination Trial, will earn the right to Olympic nomination through the K4 event.
For Tate Smith, Murray Stewart and Jacob Clear, there is no uncertainty as the trio were in the winning combination at both nomination trials and have met the criteria for nomination to the AOC.
Tate Smith was delighted with the win.
“It was a solid hit out. We got the win and got the nomination for the Olympic team so it was good,” he said.
He complimented the Western Australian crew on their performance.
”I was pretty confident we had it under control. We stuck to our race plan and expected them to have the race of their lives and they did that and pushed us all the way,” he said.
He said the Olympic nomination was “all part of the job”.
“It’s all small steps towards London and it’s good to get the nomination out of the way so we can focus on London and get back to where we were last year.”
2009 Nutri-grain Ironwoman champion Naomi Flood and Beijing K4 bronze medallist Lyndsie Fogarty moved a step closer to Olympic nomination following a second place finish behind New Zealand paddler Lisa Carrington and Erin Taylor in the K2 500 final.
The kiwis were too strong leading from start to finish winning in an impressive time of 1:41.18, 1.04s clear of Fogarty and Flood, with fellow Australian’s Hannah Davis and Rachel Lovell finishing third, in a repeat of the same result at Oceania Championships a fortnight ago.
Despite their second consecutive K2 victory, their Olympic fate still rests on other results at the five day national championships.
“We’re close, but we’re not there yet,” said Flood.
“I am pretty happy with how we raced, with our time, considering that’s only the second time we have raced together.”
Fogarty was also delighted with the performance under hot and steamy conditions at Penrith.
“It was a good start to the regatta, for a first hit out. It was a good, strong race and definitely something to build off,” she said.
She said she was now focussing on the Women’s K4 500m on Thursday.
“That’s the gold event for me at the moment and I’m very confident in my crew,” she said.
Five-time Olympian Clint Robinson dream of a record equally sixth Olympics has ended after he finished a disappointing 5th in the K1 1000 semifinal, after placing 3rd in the heats earlier in the day.
Robinson was no match for emerging U23 paddler Glenn Rypp who dominated the semifinal winning in a time of 3:45.11, 1.28s clear of WAIS athletes Reece Baker and Brendon Sarson who also moved through to Thursday's final.
Earlier in the day as expected Beijing bronze medallist Ken Wallace, Stewart and Clear qualified directly for the men’s K1 1000 final following victory in their respective heats.
The final is scheduled for a 10:20am.
In other results Gold Coast’s Bernadette Wallace won the women’s K1 1000 final in 4:13.60, while Mitta Mitta’s Amy Peters blitzed the field in the women’s U23 K1 1000 final, a remarkable 8.66s clear of Samoa’s Rishan Po Ching, with Fairfield’s Marlena Ahrens in third.
The women’s K4 500 final will kick off proceedings on Thursday morning at Penrith, where Queensland duo Lyndsie Fogarty and Rachel Lovell, Manly’s Jo Brigden-Jones and SASI’s Hannah Davis will look to secure Olympic nomination.
Australian Canoeing
