CANOE/ KAYAK - SPRINT: Australia has wrapped the third ICF Sprint World Cup in Szeged, Hungary with four medals!

Olympic champions back on top of the world

London Olympic champions Tate Smith, David Smith, Murray Stewart and Jacob Clear have won gold in the K4 1000 final at the third ICF Sprint World Cup in Szeged, Hungary.

It was simply a tremendous final with less than half a second separating the top three crews from Australia, Hungary and Serbia.

But it was the Olympic champions that showed their class edging Hungary by 0.132 seconds to win the gold in 2:59.926.

Serbia took home the bronze 0.498 seconds adrift of the Australian quad.

“To come out and pull that sort of race off just goes to show how we can race when things come together.” K4 captain Tate Smith said.

Clear was equally pleased, “I think we really nailed our race plan and kept our composure and that gave us a really nice middle section and then we had some guts at the end,” he said.

The hero for the Australian’s was Stewart though winning a gold and a silver medal in the space of 40 minutes.

It was a spirited display by the 27 year old year old who 40 minutes earlier shared the K1 1000 podium alongside fellow Australian Ken Wallace.

Stewart admitted he was feeling it prior to the K4 final, “They (arms) were stinging a bit, but we train for that. Once I got in the four I didn’t really think about that,” Stewart said.

It was the first time Australia has shared a K1 1000 podium at a World Cup in an ominous sign two years out from Rio.

Stewart headed into the K1 1000 final on the back of an impressive semifinal victory on Friday.

The NSWIS gun got off to a strong start and lead the field at the 250 metre mark.  Stewart extended his lead to open up a boat length lead at the half way mark.

German Max Hoff then made his move in the third 250 before overtaking Stewart in the closing stages to win in 3:36.761, 1.530 seconds ahead of Stewart.

“It was tough race the wheels came off a bit at the end but there is always next time I guess,” Stewart said.

Racing a different strategy to the remainder of the field, Wallace started slowly and trailed the field for the majority of the race before powering home like only Wallace can to win his fifth medal of the World Cup series.

Wallace produced a 48 second final 250 metres to trail Hoff by 1.914 seconds.

It was Hoff’s third consecutive World Cup gold medal.

Earlier in the morning Ken’s younger sister Bernadette Wallace finished fifth in the women’s K1 500 B final.

Fellow Queenslander Alyce Burnett finished fifth in the K1 500 C Final.

Wallace gets his hat trick

Gold Coast paddler Ken Wallace has continued his dominance of world long-distance canoeing with a third World Cup gold medal in the gruelling 5000 metre event in Szeged, Hungary, on the weekend.

Wallace’s gold capped a strong weekend for the Australians, after the Olympic gold medalists, the men’s K4, won the 1000 metres event.

Wallace has been without peer in the 5000 metre event in recent years, winning gold at last year’s World Championships in Germany, and following it up with World Cup wins in Italy and the Czech Republic this year.

Unfortunately for Wallace, the 5000 metres is not an Olympic event. The event in which Wallace won gold in Beijing in 2008, the K1 500, is also no longer an Olympic event.

Australian Canoeing