The competition for the final two Great Britain canoe slalom spots for Rio Olympic Games places comes down to head to heads in both the men’s and women’s K1 events at Lee Valley Whitewater Centre tomorrow.
Going into the third and final day of racing Britain’s most consistent K1M paddler, Joe Clarke, is back in contention and can only be beaten by Huw Swetnam.
The women’s event will be a test between London Olympian Lizzie Neave and Fiona Pennie, Britain’s women’s kayak representative in the Beijing Olympics.
This morning Joe Clarke put down two blistering runs to win on day two of the competition at Lee Valley. Yesterday’s winner, Huw Swetnam finished second and remains in pole position, whilst Bradley Forbes-Cryans was third.
“It was a bit shaky on the first day and that showed in the results finishing third,” said Clarke.
“Today I just planned to come out and do what I’ve been doing in training and I did exactly that,” continued Clarke. “Two fantastic clean runs and I stamped some authority back again which was good.
“Tomorrow it will be the same again, so I’ll get an early night get some good food inside me and go again tomorrow and hopefully repeat, repeat, repeat.”
London Olympian Lizzie Neave has won the opening day of the women’s K1 competition. But was edged out today by Fiona Pennie whose 103.09 opening run of the day, was almost two seconds faster than anything Neave could produce.
With Neave the last to go in this afternoon’s race it was an anxious wait for Pennie to see if she would be beaten.
“I didn’t see the top of Lizzie’s run but I was watching the last bit when the commentators were saying it was really close, so I’m glad it’s still live,” said Pennie, who needs to win tomorrow to gain selection. Neave needs to either win or for Pennie to finish outside the top position.
“I guess the last 24 hours has been hard to keep my mind on it,” continued Pennie. “There were thoughts back to the 2012 selection when there was a similar scenario and I knew what I didn’t do back then.
“I was trying to make sure I covered all the bases this time and I felt much better today. Now, I guess it’s a head to head to see who will win.”
The winners of the Olympic selection trials will be confirmed by the British Canoeing International Panel and nominated to the British Olympic Association for ratification and selection to Team GB, which will be announced on Wednesday 4 November
Whilst the athletes for the Olympic team in C1M and C2 were provisionally decided yesterday, the contest continues to select the athletes who will compete for the senior team in the 2016 European Championships and the ICF World Cup Series.
In the C1M the battle for the third and final senior team slot is still very much alive. Adam Burgess, who did not feature in the top 3 in yesterday’s racing, pulled back into contention today with a second place behind Ryan Westley, who has already qualified provisionally and will now take the reserve Olympic spot.
“I had three disasters really at the start which is a bit out of character for me,” said Burgess who still faces a threat from Tom Quinn who finished third today.
“I’ve been so in control and it’s been clean run after clean run in the lead in to selection and I guess you could look at the results and think I’d lost my head.
“But that’s absolutely not the case. I’ve probably been the most in control and composed boat out there and then the mistakes I have made I’ve been really punished by.
“So I’m really happy to finally put one down. I’ve got two runs tomorrow and one solid run should be enough for the final place on the senior team.”
Mallory Franklin confirmed her provisional place on the 2016 senior team for the non-Olympic C1W event (which will comprise four paddlers for the World Cup series and three for the European Championships) after winning today. Her time of 117.11 seconds was 1.39 seconds faster than second placed Kimberley Woods. Jasmine Royle was third.
“Today’s racing confirms me on the team provisionally because of my results from the Worlds on top of today so I now can’t be beaten by Jasmine,” said Franklin who is joined in the team by Woods, selected through a combination of World Championships results and her placings from this weekend.
“So I’m pretty happy and I can relax a bit into kayak and enjoy my racing.”
The race to find who will take the C2M Olympic reserve spot will come down to the final day’s racing tomorrow.
Rhys Davies and Matthew Lister were fastest today, but Mark Proctor and Etienne Stott are still in contention after a second and third place in the competition so far.
Day 2 results (top three):
C1M: 1st Ryan Westley (Lower Wharfe), 2nd Adam Burgess (Stafford & Stone), 3rd Tom Quinn (Lower Wharfe)
K1M: 1st Joe Clarke (Stafford & Stone), 2nd Huw Swetnam (Independent), 3rd Bradley Forbes-Cryans (CR Cats)
K1W: 1st Fiona Pennie (CR Cats), 2nd Lizzie Neave (Stafford & Stone), 3rd Kimberley Woods (Rugby)
C2: 1st Rhys Davies (Bala) / Matthew Lister (White Rose), 2nd Mark Proctor (Stafford & Stone) / Etienne Stott (Viking), 3rd Ryan Westley (Lower Wharfe) / Zach Franklin (Windsor & District)
C1W: 1st Mallory Franklin (Windsor & District), 2nd Kimberley Woods (Rugby), 3rd Jasmine Royle (Stafford & Stone)
For full results - click here
