CANOE/KAYAK: Three more pieces of the Australian sprint canoe Olympic jigsaw have fallen into place, with Perth’s Steve Bird and Queensland’s Alyce Burnett and Alyssa Bull winning selection races at the National Championships in Perth on Thursday.
Hometown favourite Bird was a clear winner of the men’s K1 200, while Bull and Burnett proved too strong for 2012 Olympians Naomi Flood and Jo Brigden-Jones in the K2 500.
In other events, 2012 K4 Olympic gold medallists Murray Stewart and Jacob Clear pipped two-time World Championship silver medallists, Ken Wallace and Lachlan Tame, in the final of the men’s K2 1000.
Both crews won a nomination race for Olympic selection, however there will not be a race-off as all four athletes have met the nomination criteria.
Third-place getters Riley Fitzsimmons and Jordan Wood have also fulfilled the nomination criteria to be part of a seven-member 1000 metre team.
Burnett and Bull followed up their brilliant K2 500 win in the opening Olympic selection race in Adelaide with an even more impressive win on Thursday, finishing well ahead of the World Championship combination of Flood and Brigden-Jones.
“When we won the first race, it kind of caught us off guard a bit,” Burnett said.
“Obviously that’s what we wanted, but to come away with the first win, it was something we didn’t really expect.
“Coming into today the tension was high, the nerves were there, but we just executed it perfectly.”
London 2012 Olympian Bird was relieved to again perform when the pressure was on.
“There’s a huge amount of relief, there’s been such an exhilarating build-up,” Bird said.
“I’ve always had the confidence once the gun goes, but up until then I’m bloody hopeless. I feel nerves just as much as everyone else, it’s quite a thing that goes on in my head before a race.
“I wouldn’t want to write it down, it would be a bit embarrassing.”
And while Murray Stewart and Jacob Clear were celebrating their sizzling win over Lachlan Tame and Kenny Wallace in the K2 1000, most of the excitement was with third-place getters Riley Fitzsimmons and Jordan Wood.
With Stewart, Clear, Tame and Wallace already qualified for Rio nomination, and with Australia having earned the right to take seven 1000 metre paddlers, Fitzsimmons and Wood are looking good for nomination.
“This whole season we’ve been working towards this, and to come away with it, I’m so happy,” Wood said.
“I was really nervous. I get real nervous before these races, but once I get into the boat it’s okay.”
Fitzsimmons, who has only been in the sport since London hopes that if he is selected for Rio it will be a great learning curve ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
“Four years ago I started kayaking, and it’s all gone really quick,” Fitzsimmons said.
“I guess potentially this Olympics will be a real big eye-opener, and it’s going to give Woody and I a big advantage over any other boats that might be going to Tokyo in 2020.
“We’re going to be exposed to that seniors racing, it’s really going to help us develop.”
Australian Canoeing (modified)
