The women's U23K1 team produced the tightest run among a clutch of Kiwi improvers
Top 10s the Order of Teams' Day at Junior & U23 World Champs
In a solid start for the Kiwi team at the ICF Canoe Slalom Junior and U23 World Championships in Krakow, Poland, four of New Zealand’s five teams made strides from the same event last year.
Perhaps foremost of the performances belonged to the U23K1 women’s team of Courtney Williams, Hannah Thomas and Kensa Randle. Navigating their way down the Vistula River course with 4 touches, the trio clocked a score of 117.06 to finish 9th, behind winners France who won a total of 4 gold medals on the day. The Kiwi team edged to 112% of the winners, a marked improvement with the equivalent team last year having failed to finish.
The men’s U23K1 team also edged their performance from last year – while placing 11th compared to last year’s 9th, the trio of Callum Gilbert, Callum Aitken and Jack Dangen, including 2 touches they got a second closer to the winners than before (at 112 vs 113%).
In a week of dramatic international sport, the drama of the day lay with the U18K1 women, with River Mutton, Lotte Rayner and Hannah Thomas initially lodging a careful faultless run to place 10th, then given a second bite (due to variable water levels), and seizing the moment to be 11 seconds quicker for a final place of 8th. While matching the equivalent 8th place last year, they reduced the gap from 123% to 117%.
The biggest improvers of the day for NZL were undoubtedly the men’s U18C1 trio of Jack Egan, Oliver Puchner and Charlie Bell, setting aside an equivalent time of over 300 last year, to clock 122.75 for 10th place at 124%. The boys unfortunately incurred 12 penalties (6 touches), otherwise running just 12 seconds slower than again the gold-medal French.
Similar fate and more befell the last Kiwi team of the day - the U18K1 men - with George Snook, Oliver Puchner and Taylor Harris making 8 touches to slip to 14th overall. While matching last year’s finishing position, the penalties cost dear with performance dropping to 129%, this time from a British winner.
Notable all day was the slick cohesion of some of the European nations, compared to rarely practised discipline in New Zealand. The races provided an ideal ice-breaker however, for the individual events starting tomorrow, and further indication of New Zealand’s growing progress and depth.
Full results can be found here.
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Article added: Wednesday 17 July 2019