Kynan Maley ICF Slalom World Cup 2 Pau, France 15 June 2012 Photograph:Sportscene |
Seven Australian’s have cruised through to their respective semi finals on Saturday after some great action on day one of the second ICF Slalom World Cup in Pau, France.
30 year old Western Australian paddler Kynan Maley showed strong signs ahead of London finishing 10th in the men’s C1 heats overnight.
Maley produced a fast and clean first run of 96.83 to be placed 4th at the half way point before taking a few risks in his second run to eventually finish 10th, 6.40 seconds behind Slovak Matej Benus who produced a scintillating second run of 90.43, more than a second clear of the field.
“I am pretty happy with it as a base, my first run I think I was fourth and I was a bit careless with what I had to do on the second run, I sort of wanted to explore the options because I knew I was pretty safe,” said Maley.
“Overall I am happy, my baseline has come up and I can use that as a pretty good platform heading towards the Games. “
Also joining Maley in tomorrow’s semi final will be 22 year old New South Welshman Ian Borrows whose time of 100.03 placed him 23rd, with the top 30 men advancing to the semi final stage.
Will Forsythe, Warwick Draper and Lucien Delfour have all cruised through to the men’s K1 semi final after finishing 25th, 26th and 33rd after their two heat runs on Friday.
The Australian trio will need to make inroads tomorrow though if they wish to finish in the top 10 and progress to the final.
Slovenian Peter Kauzer showed why he is the reigning world champion recording the quickest heat time of 87.69, 1.22 seconds ahead of Frenchman Bastian Damiens and Poland’s Mateusz Polaczyk.
In the final event of the day, last weekend’s C1 gold and silver medallists Ros Lawrence and Jessica Fox cruised through to the women’s C1 semi final finishing 3rd and 5th respectively.
Australian Canoe Slalom Head Coach Mike Druce was pleased with the performances of the team on day one and has been impressed by the level of competition at Pau.
“The competition has been great, it is a difficult course to race flat out on because of the pushiness and technicality of the water, some of the really top athletes got a bit caught out in qualification and had to salvage a second run,” said Druce.
“I was quite pleased with how everybody went in qualification today, everyone from our team is through today which is obviously what we want and I think they also feel as though they have got some room to build as well, because no one really felt they had a perfect run, but it is always good to build through these competitions and step up at every level so you leave your best for the final.”
Racing on Saturday will commence from 5pm Australian Eastern Standard Time with the men’s C1 semi final featuring Maley and Borrows.
Saturday 9th June Schedule
17:00–20:10 - Semi Finals - C1 Men, K1 Men & C1 Women
20:32–21:57 - Finals - C1 Men, K1 Men & C1 Women
22:02–22:32 - Medal Ceremony – C1 Men, K1 Men & C1 Women
24:00–01:30 - Heats - K1 Women & C2 Men – 1st Run
01:40–02:30 - Heats - K1 Women & C2 Men – 2nd Run
(All times AUS EST, 8 Hrs ahead of Pau, France).
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