WA Paddlers Compete at Sprint Canoe World Championships

Jaime Roberts and Steve Bird have both competed for Australia at the 2018 ICF Sprint Canoe World Championships in Portugal.

Roberts qualified for the A Final of the women’s K4 500 where she partnered Alyssa Bull, Alyce Burnett and Jo Brigden-Jones as the Australians finished in seventh place.

The Australian crew have enjoyed a breakthrough international season which culminated in a showdown against the world’s elite.

Hungary continued their stranglehold of the event with their victory in Portugal adding to an Olympic title in Rio and another world championship success at last year’s championships in the Czech Republic.

New Zealand took silver ahead of a crew from Poland to round out the podium. The Australians had qualified for the A Final after winning their semi, having earlier taken fifth place in their heat.

With less than two years to go until the Tokyo Olympics, the signs are looking promising for this group. Over the course of the season, the quartet also medalled at World Cup level. As a relatively new combination, there is plenty of upside ahead.

In the 200m division, Rio Olympian Steve Bird missed out on the A Final of the men’s K1 after he finished fifth in his semi-final.

There will be a level of frustration for Bird however, with his B Final time of 35.543 (which earned him second place) representing a fast enough time for fourth place in the A Final (factored against reality that A and B Finals are raced in different water/wind conditions and that this comparison is only indicative).

What it does speak to in the meantime, is that on raw speed, Bird remains a top level competitor. The A Final was won by Spain’s Carlos Garrote in a time of 35.259.

In the non-Olympic class women’s K2 200 A Final, Jaime Roberts partnered Jo Brigden-Jones for an eighth place finish in a time of 37.844. A German crew claimed the world championship crown.