The waiting is over………… the 38th Canoe Sprint World Championships are underway.
A spectacular acrobatic show was the highlight of the opening ceremony as all of the athletes looked ready to get on with the real business of racing.
Fireworks in the opening ceremony to match fireworks on the water
The morning’s weather brought strong and gusting winds making racing very difficult today. All GB athletes qualified comfortably for afternoon semi final action which was where the true racing began..
Professional work from the women
The first racing featured the womens K1 class.
Rachel Cawthorn, having raced Kovacs (Hun) and Beata Mikolajzyk(Pol) in the morning, faced them again in the afternoon. She booked her place in the final on Saturday with a solid performance tucking in with a second place behind Franziska Weber (Ger). Katalin Kovacs (Hun) looked in control allthrough her semi-final and will be a strong contender against Britain’s finest.
Said Rachel reportedly afterwards
Rachel Cawthorn, riding the waves in Poznan, will race in Saturday's final
‘ That might have been fun if it hadnt been a race’. Certainly the blonde from Guildford had to put in a few support strokes in the latter stages of her race, to ensure she finished in the winners enclosure, rather than the watery Lake Malta that was a demon at times during the day.
British interest then moved onto the Womens K2. Jenna Hawkey and Angela Hannah managed magnificently to hold their tempo and timing together over the difficult final stretch to take the third and last carriage into the final. Good work from a pairing who only started working in K2 5 weeks ago.
Brabants delivers Box Office
Ben Fouhy's final hopes were sunk by Tim Brabants
Next up was the Mens K1 1000m Semi- finals. Each year this event just gets harder. With only two racers from each of the 4 semis going through by right, Tim Brabants seemed to be dealt a beast of a challenge. While Max Hoff (Ger) and Aleh Yurenia (BLR) sailed through their respective heats, there was no place for shirkers in the third. Brabants faced Adam Van Koeverden (Can), Ben Fouhy (NZL), Max Benassi (ITA) and the rapidly improving Marko Tomicevic (SRB). From lying in fourth place with 100ms to go, normal humans would have thought it was all over and Brabants was sinking towards a B final. Ha! Not so… Brabants just doesnt do ‘rolling over’. Call it what you will…strength of character, will to win or just ‘wanting it enough’, Brabants sat up in his boat and leveraged metres out of his opponents lead with every closing stroke to take the second qualification place behind Max Benassi (ITA), the surprise winner.
Adam Van Koeverden (Can) and Ben Fouhy (NZL) were banished to the B final.
There were no surprises in the C1 class, that showed Attilla Vajda (Hun) back to his racing best, a new Chinese one-to-watch Weiyong Xie and Seb Brendl (GER) right on form unfortunately it did not happen for James Train and Matt Lawrence who were 7th in their race. Although they will race the B final, it may be that patience is already pulling out of the C2 station .
Boyton and Rutherford deliver while misery descends for K4.
Although Jon Boyton and Ed Rutherford just missed out on the A final and will race B, the nature of their performance was such that it gave GB supporters (and hopefully themselves) great pride. These young lions, aged only 22 & 20, did their best to make the most of their semi-final. They should be confident of a top 3 in the B final. Their performances have surely moved up a notch.
Although a similar placing, it was a completely different emotion that engulfed the GB K4 after missing the A final by one place, in their semi.
Agonisingly close to the Polish, three tenths of a second was all that separated joy from despair. Very much in the top 3 at the half way point, the GB crew lost ground over the mid section of the race and despite a spirited finish at the end, the Polish always looked stronger and regained their third place and the route to the final.
Mixed weather, mixed emotions and a man that refuses to be beaten… Poznan had it all on day one. Friday brings the 500m preliminaries. Hannah and Hawkey go again as does Rachel Cawthorn, Jon Boyton & Ed Rutherford along with Tim Brabants. The Womens K4 of Abi Edmonds, Louisa Sawers, Hayleigh Mason and Rachel make their eagerly awaited debut in these championships.
Jenna Hawkey and Angela Hannah make the K2 1000m final
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