GBR has their womens squad to thank for shouting out that we remain a major force on the golden regatta pond. Under the astute tutelage of Miklos Simon, ably assisted and abetted by Trevor Hunter, the whole squad romped again into the 500m spots that matter most – the finals – which will take place tomorrow.
Rachel Cawthorn - another superb performance
The irrepressible Rachel Cawthorn is like the orchestra leader – setting out early to set the tempo and tone of the regatta. She hit all of the right chords as she bossed her heat to grab the hot lane 4 for the final. She’ll find herself next to Danuta Kozak (Hun), the fastest qualifier of the day. Interestingly Germany’s Nicole Reinhardt, the in form winner in Duisburg two weeks agon, is sitting this one out.
Lani Belcher and Angela Hannah joined in the girls’ water -based rock opera by booking another direct final place with a top 3 finish in their K2 heat. Nice work, following the Hungarians and home town Serbian sweethearts – the Moldovan sisters- over the line. What a blast these pair are having.
Next to raise the decibel level was the quartet of the womens K4 – Edmonds, Walker, Mason and Sawers. Their heat (where they faced Germany and Poland) was like a rerun of the Duisburg final. Today they were third and right in the washing machine spin cycle of medal mayhem. The GBR girls love every competitive second – especially when the beat gets faster!. The fact that they are mixing it with the best in the world shows their level of expectation. Its clear that finals are no longer enough. They play for their medal collection- every time.
The ‘shorties’ (200m racers) kick start their campaigns tomorrow morning with more TNT than it would take to move a small town a degree to the right. More excitement and fun guaranteed and for GB fans, more finalling will surely be on the agenda.
Other results today included James Train – 8th in C1 1000m semi final.
The A final tomorrow will see Maxim Opalev (Rus), Atilla Vajda (Hun) and Sebastian Brendl (Ger) face off in what should be an intriguing race. A side note – no Ivan Shtyl – the hugely talented Russian canoeist who pillaged most of the world cup gold medals available in the canoe class inDuisburg in World Cup 3. Will he reappear at the World Championships? I fancy he might and probably in the 200m event.
Andrej and Alexei Bahdanovic - Olympic champion
The C2 final brings the Russian youngsters Korovaskov and Peruvkin put it to the Olympic champions – the Bahdanovich Bros (BLR) – I’m really excited to see how far the kids can push the kings.
Continuing the international thread, in the MK1 1000m, Rene Poulsen (Den), Aleh Yurenia (BLR) and Max Hoff (Ger) will have their own personal play off for gold, with Veraas Larsen (Nor) a good each-way bet to feature in the final analysis. What great entertainment, week after week on the sprint regatta tour. Poulsen is the man in the box seat, but with Hoff coming back into form after his injury lay-off, he will give the great Dane a real contest.
The GB Mens K4 1000m event ended with a semi final placing of 7th. The K2 1000m crew was 9th. The are many words that could be written. Just two will suffice…..where next?
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