Great Britain has a chance to build on its burgeoning reputation as a nation of genuine medal detectors, at the second World Cup regatta in Racice, Czech Republic, this weekend.
200m squad
The results posted by the mens 200m kayak squad at World Cup 1, where Ed McKeever faced down the world’s best again, and with the K2 boys just eclipsed by a French bullet, show that the 2010 results cannot be measured against the words ‘flash’ and ‘pan’.
The squad has simply showed again that success is the output of hard work and more hard work.
The GBR women take to the water in their first 2011 international sortie. While Rachel Cawthorn focuses on her K1 500m, eschewing the 1000m distance the wires are full of chatter regarding the form of Jess Walker. A former Junior European Champion gold medallist and Olympian (2008) she has bags of potential. After a mixed bag of seasons since her transition into senior racing, Jess struck a rich vein of form at the early season Nottingham regatta where her consistency in performances made her a shoo-in for the K1 200m selection. She is also slotting into seat 2 of the K4.
Jess Walker will race K1 200m and K4
There is nothing more intimidating to the opposition with Jess Walker, hair on fire with full racing head installed. World be warned! Abi Edmonds, Hayleigh Mason and Louisa Sawers will all be glad she’s rocking their boat.
A debut is given to Angela Hannah and Lani Belcher in K2 500m – this could be the pairing to really get things happening for GB over this Olympic distance. For Belcher who simply does not have the words ‘giving up’ in her vocabulary, its a real opportunity to put a marker down regarding her Olympic credentials, while for Hannah, this is a great reward for a hard winter of work and elevation into the ‘A’ team.
The GB canoes are also in action. Richard Jefferies is not one to walk away from challenges and his own particular one is to elevate his performance to that of making an ‘A’ final. For James Train and Matt Lawrence, this is the start of the race-off between them to see who will occupy the one C1 berth available for the European and World Championships team. The tea – leaves are in the air on this one.
Finally mens kayak 1000m – Jon Boyton and Paul Wycherley will face a stiffer examination against the now present German and Hungarian opposition. Expect to see an improving performance from Dr Tim Brabants, racing in a class with 53 entries while the K4 knows exactly what it needs to achieve…
Good racing to all GB crews
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