Oceania Canoe Kayak Championships

The championships not only served as the final chance for Oceania crews to qualify boats for the Olympics, but were also the first round of selection trials for all Australian athletes and the national championships for the Flatwater competitors.

The Flatwater component of the event was held over all five days of the championships with the opening morning providing one of the highlights of the week. Both New Zealand and Australia were attempting to qualify boats in the Men’s and Women’s K1 500m events and faced off against each other in the heats of the respective events.

The scenario was simple. Alana Nicholls, 21 year old from Perth, needed to finish ahead of New Zealand paddler Erin Taylor in their respective heat to qualify the boat for the Olympics. Nicholls produced the race of her life and managed to cross the line ahead of Taylor. NSW’s Tony Schumacher faced the same task against Troy Burbidge and was also successful.

Then the drama set in. Due to the amounts of weed that were present on the course the New Zealand camp lodged a protest of the stated of the course which was subsequently dismissed. However in a dramatic turn of events, at the close of the championships, a New Zealand appeal was heard and upheld with a decision handed down that the races were required to be held again. Stay tuned for further developments on this front in the coming weeks.

Torsten Lachmann qualified a place for Australia in the Men’s C1 500m after winning his Oceania heat in commanding fashion. Pending the result in the ongoing K1 500m battle, Australia has now qualified the Men’s K1 1000m, Men’s K4 100m, Men’s C1 500m and the Women’s K4 500m for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Ken Wallace and Chantal Meek were the standout performers at the event and have both secured nominations to the AOC to compete on the Olympic team. The Men’s K1 1000m was the race of the program and lived up to expectations with Wallace producing a barn storming finish to edge out Clint Robinson by a mere 0,19 of a second. Wallace’s winning time of 3:27.62 was only two seconds outside the world’s best time which showed the quality of the race.

Meek earned herself a spot on the Australian team when she won the Women’s K1 500m final. This result does not mean she has to race in this event, but guarantees her a spot in either that boat or the Women’s K4 500m.

At the Penrith Whitewater Stadium Australia still had the opportunity to qualify in the C2 and K1 after not managing to do so at last year’s world championships in Brazil. Lachie Milne produced two very consistent qualifying runs to ensure a high seeding for the semi finals and were handed the Olympic berth when the New Zealand combination of Bryden Nicholas and Andrew Robinson failed to qualify for the semi finals. Milne and Bellofiore went on to finish third in the event behind Junrong Shu and Minghai Hu (CHI) and Peter and Pavel Hochshorner (SVK).

Australia also managed to qualify the Men’s K1 after three excellent performances from the nominated athlete’s, Warwick Draper, Will Forsythe and Anthony Brown. One of these three was required to finish ahead of the three selected New Zealand athletes and when only Michael Dawson (NZ) made it through to the final, the task was made slightly easier.

Draper produced a great final run to take second place, while Forsythe (5^th) and Brown (6^th) all finished above the 7^th placed Dawson. Draper’s result as the highest placed Australian also earned him crucial qualifying points in the battle for the one Australian spot at the Olympics. He now needs to win one of two races next weekend to represent Australia in Beijing.

Robin Bell moved a step closer to competing at his third Olympics after a great final run distanced himself from fellow Australian Kynan Maley. Bell picked up the silver at the event behind Slovakian world champion Michal Martikan who was in scintillating form on Sunday, producing a final run of 96.80 to set the quickest time of the day in any category.

In the Women’s K1 Jacqueline Lawrence (4^th) claimed the first round of selection trials for Australia ahead of younger sister Kate (5^th), Sarah Grant (6^th) and Louise Natoli (7^th). Slovakian Elena Kaliska won the event ahead of two Chinese competitors, Tong Li and Jingjing Li.

The second and third round of selection trials for the Australian team will be held over the Easter weekend (22 – 23 March) while the flatwater final trials will be staged at the Sydney International Regatta Centre, March 25 – 28.