Crunch Time for Australia’s Slalom Paddlers

Published On: 1 February 2016

Australia’s Olympic hopefuls in slalom canoe will this weekend commence a two-phase selection battle that will determine the make-up of the white-water team bound for Rio.

Penrith this weekend (Feb 5-7) hosts the Australian Open, which is the first of two selection events and precedes the Oceania Championships from February 19-21, which in combination with the Aus Open, will shape the representative squad for Rio set to be announced by the AOC following this process.

In the men’s C1 class, two WAIS scholarship athletes will be aiming to earn nomination, with Robin Jeffery and Kynan Maley both in contention.

The pair – who are based in NSW for training purposes – competed together in the C2 boat at the 2012 London Olympics, making the semi-finals on debut. However, with the pair focused on individual competition in the lead up to Rio and Australia missing qualification for the double at last year’s World Championships, all attention will instead be focused on the one available Olympic spot in the men’s canoeing discipline.

Jeffery will enter the Australian Open in sharp form, having last month won silver at the national championships in Tasmania, whilst national champion Christian Fabris, is another tipped to be at the pointy end of the selection discussion.

Maley represents something of an unknown commodity, having skipped – as many other paddlers did – the nationals, to focus instead on the Olympic selections. He also only returned to slalom last year, after an extended sabbatical from the sport post London.    

Should either Jeffery or Maley be successful in earning the C1 spot for Australia, they stand to be the first officially selected athlete from Western Australia on to the Australian Olympic Team for Rio, with many of the other Olympic sports announcing squads across April through July.

The Australian Open and Oceania Championships will also see athletes such as London Olympic silver medallist Jessica Fox (contesting K1 and C1 events) and potential four-time Olympian Warwick Draper (K1) in action and pushing for selection.