SPRINT CANOE/KAYAK: Australia’s sprint canoe and kayak section began its Olympic campaign with two out of the three crews in action booking places in Tuesday’s finals.
London 2012 Olympic gold medallist, Murray Stewart, won his semi-final in the K1 1000m in sublime style, over the reigning 2015 World Champion in the boat, Rene Holton of Denmark. Meanwhile young guns Alyce Burnett and Alyssa Bull finished third in their K2 500m semi-final to book a place in their first ever Olympic final.
Veteran canoeist, Martin Marinov, finished seventh in his semi-final in the C1 1000m and will not contest the finals. He will race again later in the week, in the men’s C2 1000m, with Ferenc Szekszardi.
Men’s C1 1000m
Veteran canoeist, five-time Olympian Martin Marinov, was the first Australian to take to the water. Marinov, who was a coach at the London 2012 Olympic Games, returned to the sport earlier this year.
Up against Germany’s Sebastian Brendel, the reigning Olympic and World Champion in the event, as well as 2015 World Championships silver medallist, Henrik Vasbanyai, Marinov was going to find it tough to finish first to automatically make the final and miss the semis.
The heat was ultimately won by Brendel, while Marinov, finished sixth and went on to contest the semi-finals again France, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Poland, Russia, Latvia and Kazakhstan. Needing a top two finish to secure a semi-final spot, it wasn’t to be for the canoeist, who finished seventh with a time of 4mins 24secs, some 26 seconds behind the victor, Russia’s Ilia Shtokalov. He will compete in th B Final tomorrow and then the men’s C2 1000m with Ferenc Szekszardi later this week.
Women’s K2 500m
In the women’s K2 200m, Olympic debutants Alyce Burnett and Alyssa Bull secured a spot in the A-Finals.
Powering out of the start, the crew were in third place at the halfway mark but the Hungarian duo were in the lead from the start. As the crew approached the halfway mark they were jostling for third place with Ukraine.
As they approached the finish, the crew eased off the pace, knowing they would contest the semi-finals, while Hungary took the win. The Australians were up against Austria, Belarus, China, Ukraine and Serbia in their semi-final and required a top three finish to make the A-Finals.
Taking on the reigning World Champions, Belarus, the young Australians paddled out hard and as they approached the halfway marker buoy were sat in third, with Belarus and Ukraine the leaders.
As the paddlers approached the line, it was Belarus who took the win, with Ukraine second and the Australians snapping up third and achieving a place in their first ever Olympic finals.
The duo will now line up on Tuesday (August 16) at 9.23am local time (10.23pm AEST) to take on Russia, Belarus, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
“We did have a very good race and feel like we executed our race plan really well,” said Bull.
The young athletes demonstrated that they were ready for Olympic comptition and were delighted to have scored a place the final.
“It was all we could have hoped for, there are a lot of good crews out there and we’re pumped to be in the A-Final. That was our goal, and we’ve done it so far, so anything from here on in is just a bonus,” Bull said.
“Building up from the last three to four years and watching the older girls do it, and go out in London, we’ve always looked up to them, and always tried to follow them and now for us to get our first berth at Olympic finals, at our first Olympic Games, is something that we could only dream of and hopefully we can do those girls proud at home and also Floody [Naomi Flood] here too," Burnett admitted.
“We were aiming for Tokyo, so we didn’t expect to be here. I was a big into surf [lifesaving] but since it’s not an Olympic sport so that was my big driving force to turning to kayaking and it’s certainly paid off, to be on the biggest stage in the world," Bull said.
The duo is coached by two-time Olympic sprint kayak medallist, Anna Wood, and they credited their performances thus far to her superior knowledge of the sport.
“Anna’s experience is invaluable. She has a lot of knowledge, having been to four Olympics herself, with this being her first one coaching, and we put a lot of trust in her program and it’s definitely paying off,” concluded Bull.
Men’s K1 1000m
In the men’s K1 1000m, London 2012 Olympic gold medallist (from the K4 1000m) Murray Stewart took to the water, requiring a top five finish to easily progress to the mid-morning semi-finals, or at least the sixth best time.
The 30-year-old Stewart, faced paddlers from Italy, France, Czech Republic, Serbia, Russia and Kazakhstan. The main competitor for a top place finish for Stewart would no doubt come from the lane next to him, in the form of the Czech Republic’s Josef Dostal.
Dostal, the London 2012 Olympic bronze medallist, in the K4 1000m, finished second in the World Championships in 2015 in the K1 event and was certainly the favourite for the heat.
Dostal started strong but Stewart pulled ahead as the paddlers approached the halfway mark and looked relaxed at his first international race of the year, having been out of action due to illness earlier in the year.
As the athletes approached the 250 metre mark, Cyrille Carre of France began to challenge Dostal who was in second and also Stewart in first. However, it was Dostal who pulled ahead of Stewart to take the win, with the Australian in second and Carre in third – all three would progress to the semi-finals.
Stewart’s semi-finals, saw the Australian drawn in lane six, and taking on the likes of Rene Holten of Denmark, the reigning World Champion in the event, as well as London 2012 Olympic silver medallist in the event, Adam van Koeverden of Canada.
Stewart looked relaxed at the start and paced himself through the race, as Fernando Pimenta of Portugal took the lead for the first 500 metres. It was then when Stewart made his move to pass the Portuguese paddler and take over the lead, while Marcus Walz of Spain and Holten battled it out to chase the Australian.
However, it was to be Stewart’s day, with the Australian taking the win in a time of 3mins 32secs, proving himself to be the fastest qualifier into the finals tomorrow, after Russia’s Roman Anoshkin won the other semi-final in a time of 3mins 34secs.
Stewart had hoped to be in the K4 1000m once again at this Olympic Games, but despite missing out, he feels the time away has given him the chance to improve his K1 skills.
“It's a pity that I'm not in the K4, I really wanted to be there to defend that title. The one thing that it has given me is a little bit of extra time to focus on the K1, just to try and tweak a few things in my race strategy," Stewart said.
“That's definitely one thing that we've been working on is to try and have a much stronger finish in the past. I was feeling strong out there and hopefully I've got a few more gears to go in the final tomorrow.
"Now that I'm there [in the final], there a bit of pressure off and I can just go out there and have a real crack at the title."
Stewart’s final will be at 10.12am local time (23:12 AEST), where he’s drawn in lane five. He will take on paddlers from Denmark, Slovakia, Portugal, Russia, Germany, Spain and the Czech Republic.
Lucy Benjamin
olympics.com.au
