Ros and Jess in Aussie Double at Cardiff World Cup |
Australia kick started its World Cup campaign with gold and silver in the women's C1 category at first ICF World Cup yesterday in Cardiff.
Racing had finally got underway with a modified program following the cancellation of Friday's races due to storms. The men's and women's C1 and men's K1 events featured a direct semi final with only the top 10 progressing to the final. For the women's K1 and men's C2 the normal schedule of heats semi and final has been retained.
It was the first international hit out for the Australian contingent following the Oceania Open in February. Of the Olympic team only Jess Fox was in attendance with Kynan Maley, Rob Jeffery and Warwick Draper already in the French city of Pau preparing for World Cup 2.
Rosalyn Lawrence won gold in the C1 event through a strong performance in the lower end of the course, finishing in 133.67. The Australian was challenged by her teammate Jess Fox but the teenager collected a higher penalty score and tipped over, finishing 6 seconds adrift. It was a 1 and 2 finish for Australia with Team GB securing bronze with Mallory Franklin.
"I was pretty happy with the top part of my run but the bottom is pretty tricky for everyone and it wasn't ideal, but it did the job"
It is the first major event in Cardiff on a new course and Lawrence was positive about the choice for a World Cup event "the venue is compact and the water changes a lot, overall its a great venue and good to be racing here", she said.
After the race Fox said, “It’s an interesting course. I had a good run this morning but the penalties were my biggest problems and I made too many mistakes. I was not very balanced on my boat and I am disappointed with my result. I will now switch off from C1 and focus on my next race.”
The Women’s K1 heats followed with a line-up to match the men’s event. With only the top 30 going into tomorrow’s semi- finals the competition was strong with all major internationals in attendance. At the end of the second run there weren’t many surprises, the wind and course had noticeably calmed down from the morning and there was more consistency in runs and times. Going into the semi-final after posting the best time in her first run is the 2010 and 2011 world champion Corinna Kuhnle (AUT).
Australia fared well with all four women going through safely to the next round. Jess Fox posted the 9th best score on her first run and sat out the second run, Sarah Grant moved through into the semis in 15th with two consistent runs with the Lawrence sisters, Ros and Kate, in 17th and 19th.
Also in tomorrow’s finals are Great Britain’s Fiona Pennie, Maielen CHourrautt (ESP), Jasmin Schornberg (GER), Jana Dukatova (SVK), Elena Kaliska (SVK), Stepanka Hilgertova (CZE) and Violetta Oblinger-Peters (AUT).
The star of the day was without doubt Gate 15, or to be more precise the BIG DROP that followed the now infamous gate 15, as it proved to be the making and undoing of many seasoned paddlers, including one of the favourites in K1, Daniele Molmenti (ITA).
Great Britain’s C1 paddler David Florence was the local success story winning Great Britain’s first medal of the day and the first gold medal of the Cardiff World Cup. In 2nd place was Russia’s Alexander Lipatov followed by Alexander Slafkovsky (SVK) in 3rd place. Michal Martikan (SVK) did not make it through to the final but he qualified for the Olympic Games, making London 2012 his 5th Olympic Games.
“It’s a fairly hard course and it’s tough all the way down and very easy to make mistakes. You do need a fairly good run to make it to the final,” said Florence. “When I finished my run I knew I had had a good run but I didn’t know how I had done, but I made the fastest time so I am pretty happy.”
Australia's Ian Borrows finished in 27th position with a total of 113.60.
The Men’s K1 semi-final probably had the longest list of “Slalom’s Who’s who”, and the final was a tightly contested race with only a few tenths separating 1st place finisher Sebastian Schubert (GER) in 93.03 and 4th place finisher Mike Kurt (SUI) 93.91. Etienne Daille (FRA) came in 2nd with European silver medallist Paul Boeckelmann (GER) in 3rd.
Lucien Delfour was the best placed Australian finishing 21st in the semi final with a total of 100.63 including a 2 second penalty. Will Forsythe finished in 24th.
Weather permitting tomorrow will bring another exciting day of races with the Women’s K1 semi-final beginning at 08h00 (GMT).
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