Australia claimed three medals at the first ICF canoe sprint World Cup in Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal, an ominous sign 12 months out from the Rio Olympics.

Read the day-by-day action below.

Day 3

Australia has won gold in the men’s K4 1000 final at the first ICF canoe sprint World Cup in Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal.

It continued Australia’s domination of the men’s 1000 metre events after Ken Wallace and Lachlan Tame won gold in the K2 1000 on Saturday, while Murray Stewart won silver in the K1 1000.

An ominous sign 12 months out from the Rio Olympics.

“All three performances were against quality opposition even if not all teams were present and we can expect a tougher field next week. It was a good start and they were good times in favourable conditions,” High Performance Manager Richard Fox said.

Stewart went one better in the K4 1000 final, combining with fellow London Olympic gold medalists Jacob Clear and David Smith, and 20 year old newcomer Jordan Wood to dominate the final.

The newly formed quad finished 1.196 seconds ahead of two Spanish crews, winning in a fast time of 2:48.564.

“We fielded the first crew change since 2011 to good effect and the result was pleasing from many points of view.”

“Good confidence for the crew and evidence of the quality coming through the ranks. Next weekend Riley Fitzsimmons will replace Jordan Wood and we will assess from there.”

The women’s K4 500 A final followed shortly after with two Australian crews in action.

Jo Brigden-Jones, Naomi Flood, Alana Nicholls and Bernadette Wallace narrowly missed out on a medal by half a second in fourth place.

They finished 1.980 seconds behind New Zealand who won the gold in 1:31.540.

Catherine McArthur, Alyce Burnett, Jaime Roberts and Alyssa Bull finished ninth in 1:35.580.

Both Australian quads also featured in the non-Olympic K4 200 final, finishing fourth and eighth respectively.

In other results Western Australian Brodie Holmes and World Cup debutant Callum Dunn finished fourth and fifth respectively in the K1 200 B final.

The Australian team will now head to Duisburg, Germany for the second ICF World Cup from 22 to 24 May.

Day 2

Australia has won gold in the men’s K4 1000 final at the first ICF canoe sprint World Cup in Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal.

It continued Australia’s domination of the men’s 1000 metre events after Ken Wallace and Lachlan Tame won gold in the K2 1000 on Saturday, while Murray Stewart won silver in the K1 1000.

An ominous sign 12 months out from the Rio Olympics.

“All three performances were against quality opposition even if not all teams were present and we can expect a tougher field next week. It was a good start and they were good times in favourable conditions,” High Performance Manager Richard Fox said.

Stewart went one better in the K4 1000 final, combining with fellow London Olympic gold medalists Jacob Clear and David Smith, and 20 year old newcomer Jordan Wood to dominate the final.

The newly formed quad finished 1.196 seconds ahead of two Spanish crews, winning in a fast time of 2:48.564.

“We fielded the first crew change since 2011 to good effect and the result was pleasing from many points of view.”

“Good confidence for the crew and evidence of the quality coming through the ranks. Next weekend Riley Fitzsimmons will replace Jordan Wood and we will assess from there.”

The women’s K4 500 A final followed shortly after with two Australian crews in action.

Jo Brigden-Jones, Naomi Flood, Alana Nicholls and Bernadette Wallace narrowly missed out on a medal by half a second in fourth place.

They finished 1.980 seconds behind New Zealand who won the gold in 1:31.540.

Catherine McArthur, Alyce Burnett, Jaime Roberts and Alyssa Bull finished ninth in 1:35.580.

Both Australian quads also featured in the non-Olympic K4 200 final, finishing fourth and eighth respectively.

In other results Western Australian Brodie Holmes and World Cup debutant Callum Dunn finished fourth and fifth respectively in the K1 200 B final.

The Australian team will now head to Duisburg, Germany for the second ICF World Cup from 22 to 24 May.

Day 1

Australia has gotten off to a strong start on the opening day of the ICF canoe sprint World Cup in Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal.

All the big names athletes impressed with nine Australian boats advancing to A finals.

The results on day one reflected the hard work that the team have undertaken leading into the series, with this year’s World Cups holding added importance as they provide the team with an opportunity to build leading into the World Championships in August, where Olympic quotas will be up for grabs.

In tough, windy conditions Murray Stewart continued his fine start to the year, building on his dominant domestic performances to win his K1 1000 semifinal and advance to the final on Saturday.

Encouragingly, Sunshine Coast kayaker Bill Bain looks to have finally shrugged off a couple of injury riddled years to join Stewart in the final.

The Australian men showed off their depth in the 1000 metre ranks, with two crews advancing to the K2 1000 A final on Saturday.

Reigning World Championship silver medallist’s Ken Wallace and Lachlan Tame will be hard to beat after they directly qualified for the final after winning their heat in 3:12.268.

U23 pairing Jordan Wood and Riley Fitzsimmons joined them in the final shortly afterwards, after they recorded the second fastest time in heat two.

Western Australian pair Jesse Phillips and Steve Bird advanced directly to the K2 200 A final after winning their heat in 33.372.

On debut, South Australian Callum Dunn and Western Australian Brodie Holmes formed a new combination but were eliminated in the semifinal in fifth place, with only the top three boats advancing to the final.

In the women’s events Bayswater kayaker Alana Nicholls and South Australian Cat McArthur advanced to the K1 500 final on Saturday.

Nicholls was particularly impressive, winning her semifinal in 1:54.408 to setup a mouth-watering final where she will resume her trans-Tasman rivalry with Kiwi Lisa Carrington.

Not to be outshone by her older brother, Bernadette Wallace teamed up with Western Australian Jaime Roberts to win the K2 200 semifinal in 41.440 to advance to the final.

In the last race of an entertaining opening day, NSWIS duo Jo Brigden-Jones and Naomi Flood advanced to the women’s K2 500 A final.

The London Olympic pairing recorded the second fastest semifinal time of 1:50.608 to trail Polish pair Marta Walczykiewicz and Edyta Kierkla by 0.328 seconds.

In the same semifinal, Sunshine Coast pair Alyce Burnett and Alyssa Bull finished fifth, to narrowly miss out on a place in the final by half a second.

10 Australian boats will feature in finals on Saturday with racing scheduled to commence from 6:38pm AEST.

AUSTRALIAN CANOEING