Last week saw the Senior Canoe Slalom World Championships being held Lee Valley, London just 3 year after the Olympic Games. With this being the first chance to bag an olympic quota spot it was set to be an action packed few days of racing with tight lines and even tighter finishes.
It all kicked off on Wednesday 10th with the K1 Women and the C2 Men. In the K1 Women CANI athlete Hannah Craig was taking part representing Ireland. With the new ICF qualification system in use she knew she had to try and achieve a top 20 finish to progress to the semi-finals in her first run. Hannah had a quick run of 97.04+2 but it unfortunately the touch really cost her left her in 30th place. Racing was incredibly close in this first run and without the touch Hannah would have progressed to the semi-final easily in 16th place but alas it wasn’t to be. She refocussed and prepared for her second run knowing that only the top 10 would go through to semi-finals. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be and she finished in 21st place with a slower time of 100.40+0. Although she missed out on Olympic Qualification there is still an opportunity next May to qualify a boat at the European Championships.
On Thursday 11th in the C1 Mens Category Jake Cochrane took to the water, this season he has made steady progress attending the U23 World and European Championships and a Senior World Cup. He knew coming into this race that in his first season as a Senior athlete this was about enjoying the experience and learning about how to deliver at big events. In his first run Jake failed to get the boat running and was given a questionable 50 second penalty and ended up in 60th place. He was disappointed with his performance and knew that he could paddle better than this so after some video review and a course walk he got back on the water ready to go for his second run. On his second run he kept the boat flowing and on line a lot more and was pleased to finish in 36th with a time of 100.38+8, this was a better run and he was satisfied with his performance.
On Friday the 12th in the K1 Mens category Cade Ryan and Elliott Davidson were ready to get on the start line after watching everyone else race for the past two days. In their first runs Cade Ryan had a clean run with a time of 90.42 and finished in 60th place, this was a highly respectable finish in a field of over 100 competitors. Elliott struggled with the course on his first run and picked up two 50 second penalties and finished in a time of 99.59+102. After video review and lunch it was time for second runs, Cade Ryan was up first and continued to show great pace finishing in 27th place with a time of 89.69+0, this was despite have some difficulty around gate 11 that cost him a few precious seconds. Elliott managed to clean his run up a bit but still struggled to get the boat on line for all of his run and finished in 41st with a time of 93.06+6. Both athlete’s were happy with their performances and were super happy to have competed at one of the biggest competitions of their lives.
If you are interested in looking at the results or watching any of the replays of the events Click Here
This was the first World Championships for many here and it is great to see so many CANI athlete’s getting to represent at the very top of their sport. We wish all those involved all the best of luck with the rest of their season.
