Day two was a good day for the Kiwi women all round at the 2012 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup in Poland. Paddling the A final of the K2 1000m (a non-specialist event for the girls) Lisa Carrington and Erin Taylor showed fine form to finish 5th in a time of 4.03.773. This set them up well for their specialist event the K2 500m where their heat and semi both saw them place 2nd. The semi was a special victory for the girls as they narrowly beat the World Championship title holders, Austrians Yvonne Shuring and Victoria Schwarz in an exceptionally close race. This kind of achievement is remarkable in that Lisa and Erin had only been paddling together in the K2 for 3 months at the 2011 ICF World Championships to finish 9th in this event. To beat the title-holders is immensely satisfying and consistent with their overall plan. High Performance Manager, Grant Restall says of the girls They are really proving to be stars. Theyve closed the gap since the 2011 World Championships and can be very proud of what theyve achieved to date. The A final of the K2 500m will be raced on Sunday at 8.56pm NZ time.
Another achievement has been Teneale Hattons strong performance in the K1 500m. Coming 4th in the B final means the NZ selectors will consider nominating her to the NZOC for possible selection to the Olympics in this event.
The most pleasing of the mens results over the weekend has been the K2 500m where Steven Ferguson and Darryl Fitzgerald placed third in both their heat and their semi to earn them a spot in the A final to be raced Sunday at 11.25pm NZ time. Coach Ian Ferguson is optimistic about their progress over the last two days, however admits they are suffering a bit from the heavy programme of four races on Friday, which made the 500m result all the sweeter.
Ben Fouhys 8th placing in the K1 1000m B final has given him much to think about and he has a lot of ideas for improvements going into World Cup 2 in Duisburg, Germany 25-27 May.
