Australian Canoeing’s sprint team to be nominated to the Australian Olympic Committee to compete at the London Games began to take shape after the completion of the Oceania Sprint Canoe Championships at the Sydney International Regatta Centre.

Queenslanders Jake Donaghey and Alexander Haas were the first men to earn the right to be nominated when they won both C2 1000m events on Sunday, while Western Australia’s Alana Nicholls claimed both women’s K1 200m events earlier in the event.

The three athletes have now met the criteria for nomination to the AOC.

After three intense days of racing at the Oceania titles, a raft of Australian paddlers have one foot in the door for nomination, having taken a win in one of the Nomination Trials, with the second nomination event to be contested at the Australian Championships back here in Penrith in two weeks.

Murray Stewart (NSW), Ken Wallace (QLD), Tate Smith (QLD), Jacob Clear (QLD), Jesse Phillips (WA), Stephen Bird (WA), Hannah Davis (SA), Rachel Lovell (QLD), Jo Brigden Jones (NSQW) and Lindsay Fogarty (QLD) are all the raging hot favourites to clinch nomination in other classes.

In the Men’s K1 200m, Murray Stewart and Joel Simpson (QLD) will contest a race-off during the national championships for nomination.

The final selection of athletes to complete the Australian team to be nominated to the AOC will also depend on confirmation of Oceania quotas from the International Canoe Federation.

Queenslanders Donaghey and Haas won their second nomination event in a time of 3:46.83s, beating home the more experienced Australian duo of Sebastian Marczak (NSW) and Ferenc Szekszardi (WA) by 5.76 seconds to take the gold.

If selected for London, Australian Canoeing said the 17-year-old pair could be the youngest Australian paddlers to ever compete at an Olympic level.

“A lot of hard work has gone into it [the win] so we were pretty nervous before the race, but now that it's come off, just really excited about it,” said Donaghey.

“To cross that line knowing that we are going to be nominated felt pretty good,” added Haas.

Stewart blitzed the field in the Men’s K1 1000 on Saturday.

The 25-year-old was in a class of his own from the start and finished 4.89 seconds ahead of compatriot Jacob Clear in a punishing final.

“It was a tough race, a tough field, so I was definitely happy to come away with the win,” Stewart said.

Western Australia’s Nicholls is one step closer to achieving her dream of competing in both the K1 200 and K1 500m sprint events in London with her performances.

She won the K1 500m Oceania title in a time of 1:52.11, 0.40 seconds ahead of New Zealand’s Lisa Carrington while Manly Warringah’s Naomi Flood finished third.

“The final wasn’t my best race but it got the job done,” Nicholls said.

“I was a little bit tired from all the excitement yesterday and the two races earlier this morning but I was really happy with the first part of my race and then just tried to hang on for the second.

“I wasn’t stoked with it but it got the job done which is all I can ask for.”

Earlier in the regatta she completed the nomination criteria for the K1 200m event, by being the best placed Australian in the two selection races,

If Nicholls wins again in the K1 500m event at the upcoming National Championships, she will earn the right to be nominated to compete in her second event at the London 2012 Olympic Games, something the Bayswater paddler is determined to do.

Australian Canoeing