November 2006 - Canoeist Magazine

Slalom
Scots collect medals
World Championships
A personal best silver
medal for Fiona Pennie in
the women’s K1 rounded off
a fantastic weekend for GB
canoeing at the slalom world
championships in Prague.
The competition saw the
best paddlers in the world
battle for medals in the Czech Republic (between 2nd and 6th
August).
Scottish born Pennie, a Loughborough graduate living in
Nottingham, produced two clean runs in the women’s K1 to record
her best performance in international championships and claim her first
medal with a time of 227.41 seconds.
She was understandably delighted with her performance.
‘After finishing 7th at the Europeans earlier this month I knew if I
trained hard and held it together on the day that I could challenge for a
medal. Obviously I am delighted that I managed to do it.’
Joining Pennie in the WK1 class was 19 year old Lizzie Neave, who
competed confidently and precisely, finishing in 29th position, a good
performance for her first year in the senior team and one that
demonstrates she is recovering well from a recent shoulder injury.
Pennie’s silver was probably the highlight of a highly successful
weekend for British paddling with three medals won in total.
In the men’s K1, Olympic Silver medallist Campbell Walsh
produced a fantastic second run of 1 minute 40.82 seconds which saw
him move up from 10th to 3rd position in the final to take a bronze
medal. Scottish born Walsh charged to the top in the qualifying round
but in the semi finals, slipped to 10th position and only just scraped
through to the next round in a time of 103.96. However, Walsh,
determined to finish the season on a high, competed as if his life
depended on it and put in a fantastic clean final run, a whole 3 seconds
faster than his first run (100.82) and grabbed the bronze medal (only
0.3 of a second behind Billaut (Fra) and 2.76 sec behind Cipressi (Ita)).
The 28 year old, who lives and trains in Nottingham and who has a
string of titles to his name (World Cup champion (2004), 5 times
World Cup winner, British champion (2005) and Olympic silver
medallist (2004)), has proved that he still has the ability to perform
when it counts. Also in the K1 category, the current UK champion,
Richard Hounslow, came in 15th place in a time of 104.87, a truly
impressive position for his debut at international competition.
There was also success for the GB trio of Dave Florence (gold
medallist in this season’s Augsburg World Cup 2), Stuart McIntosh and
Dan Goddard, who claimed bronze in the men’s C1 team event. Great
Britain came 3rd behind Germany and the Czech Republic.
In the C2 category Stuart Bowman & Nick Smith came 7th and
Tim Baillie & Etienne Stott 8th.
John Anderson, performance director, commented ‘Before we came
to the championships we were confident in our capability to deliver
medal across all of the four classes. We have come here and proved our
ability to perform by winning 3 medals across two of the classes.’
Congratulations to all athletes!
Chloe Nelson-Lawrie
K1W: 1 J Dukátová, Slovensko, 224.09. 2 F Pennie, GB, 227.41. 3 J Bongardt, Deutschland,
229.29. K1M: 1 S Cipressi, Italia, 202.02. 2 J Billaut, France, 204.49. 3 C Walsh, GB, 204.78.
15 R Hounslow, GB. C1: 1 T Estanguet, France, 207.69. 2 M Martikán, Slovensko, 209.00.
3 S Jezek, Ceská, 211.01. 8 D Florence, GB, 214.70. 10 S McIntosh, GB, 222.83.
C2: 1 Volf/Stepánek, Ceská, 224.67. 2 Becker/Henze, Deutschland, 226.86.
3 Hochschorner/Hochschorner, Slovensko, 229.84. 7 Bowman/Smith, GB, 238.03. 8 Baillie/Stott,
GB, 243.65. K1WT: 1 France, 264.87. 2 Ceská, 265.88. 3 Deutschland, 268.85. 12 GB, 333.33.
K1MT: 1 France, 223.51. 2 Italia, 229.52. 3 Polska, 230.72. 12 GB, 247.03.
C1T: 1 Deutschland, 233.24. 2 Ceská, 237.68. 3 GB, 245.51. C2T: 1 Ceská, 253.90. 2
Deutschland, 261.90. 3 Slovensko, 269.93.
48
CANOEIST November 2006
Blakeman just outside medals
European Championships
The European slalom
championships held in
l’Argentière la Bessée,
France, resulted in mixed
emotions for the GB team
over 30th June - 2nd July.
In the women’s K1 class
Fiona Pennie and
Nottingham’s Laura
Blakeman raced their way to
the top ten in the finals.
Blakeman was the star of the
team, putting in an
outstanding performance, placed 9th in a semi final and turned it
round with an excellent final run performance of 117.28 (a pace of
second run only beaten by winner Kaliska (SVK), 116.62) and jumped
to 4th place overall, just outside the medals! Fiona Pennie took 7th
place and the WK1 ended with Kaliska 1st, Bongardt (GER) 2nd and
Pichery (FRA) 3rd. Unfortunately, third GB team member Lizzie
Neave did not compete owing to a shoulder injury just before the
slalom.
In the C2 class Tim Baillie/Etienne Stott finished a respectable 10th
in the finals. However, the final run didn’t match their morning’s
performance (7th placing) and they will be looking forward to
strengthen this part of their performance in the Prague world
championships. France took a home gold with Forgit/Braud receiving
big applause as their winning result appeared on the display. The
Hochschorners (SVK) took silver and Simon/Simon (GER) bronze.
In the K1 men’s class Olympic silver medallist Campbell Walsh did
not make the finals. Team member Richard Hounslow finished 17th
(108.83) and put in a sound clean run less than two seconds away from
qualifying. Andy Hadfield was 35th (115.48).
Senior coach Richard Lee was upbeat about performances, ‘A good
weekend with six personal bests for team paddlers at championships
and just ever so close to achieving a medal. We are now looking
forward to hard work in the approaching world championships’.
In C1 there will be some disappointment as all 3 GB athletes are
capable of making finals. Dan Goddard was 17th in 117.66 clean,
having given away two seconds on gate 20. Augsburg World Cup
winner David Florence was 14th in a time of 116.80. ‘Good top and
middle, lost time on the bottom section ups,’ commented coach Mark
Delaney on Florence’s performance. Stuart McIntosh, a 2005
European bronze medallist, had to settle for 11th just out of the finals,
a good clean run but still five seconds off gold pace. The final resulted
in yet another home nation win for their favourite, Estanguet (FRA),
Martikan (SVK) 2nd and Indruch (CZE) 3rd.
Chloe Nelson-Lawrie
K1W: 1 E Kaliska, Slovensko, 237.11 2 J Bongardt, Deutschland, 238.34. 3 M Pichery, France,
238.86. 4 L Blakeman, GB, 240.88. 7 F Pennie, GB, 243.34. K1M: 1 F Doerfler, Deutschland,
211.61. 2 E Pfannmoeller, Deutschland, 212.09. 3 D Paolini, Italia, 212.73. C1: 1 T Estanguet,
France, 221.24. 2 M Martikan, Slovensko, 224.82. 3 T Indruch, Ceska, 225.96.
C2: 1 Braud/Forgit, France, 237.51. 2 Hochschorner/Hochschorner, Slovensko, 237.91.
3 Simon/Simon, Deutschland, 238.73. 10 Baillie/Stott, GB, 250.27. K1MT: 1 Slovenija, 241.14.
2 Polska, 242.41. 3 Deutschland, 242.85. 9 GB, 251.39. C1T: 1 Deutschland, 123.97. 2 France,
124.44. 3 Ceska, 126.39. 8 GB, 135.74. C2T: 1 Deutschland, 265.50. 2 France, 269.69.
3 Ceska, 271.5. 6 GB, 293.23.
British collect two medals
European Under 23 & Junior Championships
Great Britain’s Mark
Proctor won a bronze medal
at the Under 23 & Junior
European Championships
held at Holme Pierrepont,
Nottingham, over 24 – 27th
August. The C1 paddler
raced to third place in the
junior event in a time of
203.21; he came behind Grzegorz Hedwigpol, Pol, who won the
event in a time of 199.79.
Proctor was not the only one to bag a medal. The women raced to
win a silver medal in the team event. Lizzie Neave, Claire Harrower