WAIS kayaker Stephen Bird has taken a significant step towards nomination for the 2016 Australian Olympic Team after winning the first official selection trial in the men’s K1 200m in Adelaide.
West Lakes hosted the Oceania Championships and Grand Prix 2 over the weekend, which formed the first part of the Rio Olympic and Paralympic selection process for Australia’s sprint canoe athletes.
Bird was first tasked with confirming Australia’s berth at the Rio Olympic Games in the men’s K1 200m event, which he achieved on Friday, with a heat victory at the Oceania Championships.
The 27 year-old then underlined his dominance over the event, by winning the selection trial final on Saturday, in a time of 37.03secs, which was over half a second clear of fellow WAIS athlete Brodie Holmes (37.72), with WAIS paddler Jesse Phillips finishing third in the Australian selection rankings (fourth overall) in 37.78.
With the WAIS kayak squad having prepared for the selection trial via an altitude training camp in the Perisher Valley, Bird said it had been a case of delivering on race plan.
“Training has been going really well so it is just a matter of executing and going through what you know and doing it on the day,” he said.
“It’s another hoop to have jumped through, an important hoop, yesterday was one but it’s the first race in a best of three situation so I have won that one and if I win at Nationals that’s all of the winning done and then who knows, hopefully, that will be enough but you never know,” Bird said.
The selection path for the Rio 2016 Games has intensified for other members of the WAIS training squad, with Alana Nicholls edged in the women’s K1 200m final by less than a tenth of a second.
Nicholls – like Bird – had qualified Australia for a berth at the Rio Olympics, by virtue of a heat win at the Oceania Championships, but in a high quality final, the London Olympian was pipped at the line by NSW paddler Jo Brigden-Jones.
Brigden-Jones’ time of 42.08 earned her a 1-0 lead in the selection race for Rio, finishing ahead of Nicholls in 42.14.
Nicholls will now need to defeat Brigden-Jones in Perth at the National Championships – which form the second phase of the Olympic/Paralympic selection trials. This would take selection, to a third and deciding race-off.
Brigden-Jones enjoyed a strong campaign at West Lakes, to also boost her selection claims in the women’s K1 500m event, winning the final ahead of Naomi Flood, with Nicholls eighth and fellow WAIS athlete Jaime Roberts ninth.
Roberts was third in the selection final of the women’s K2 500m, competing with South Australian Cat McArthur. This event was claimed by Queensland duo Alyssa Bull and Alyce Burnett, who now take a one race lead to Nationals in Perth from March 2-6.
Gold Coast based WAIS paddler Daniel Bowker showed some strong race form in the highly competitive men’s 1000m events, highlighted by a fourth place finish (in Australian rankings, fifth overall) in the men’s K1 final, which was won by NSW’s Murray Stewart.
Bowker was also part of a composite K4 boat that finished second in the direct 1000m final, won by the combination of; Kenny Wallace, Lachlan Tame, Jacob Clear and Stewart. Bowker, competed with; Riley Fitzsimmons, Joel McKitterick and Jordan Wood.
With Australia only able to select eight male athletes for Rio, as many as seven of those spots are anticipated to go to 1000m paddlers, meaning the race for selection is still well and truly on ahead of Nationals.
As an outcome of this selection criteria, it is unlikely Australia will select a specialist men’s K2 200m boat for Rio, with this event in Adelaide, won by WAIS athletes Stephen Bird and Jesse Phillips.
The WA pair took line honours in the final, in a time of 33.14, to finish ahead of Kenny Wallace and Lachlan Tame (33.25).
In a wonderful gesture, the duo dedicated their K2 200m final win to the memory of Susan Quick, who sadly passed away last month following a boating accident on the Blackwood River in WA’s South West.
“We would like to actually dedicate that win to the late Sue Quick who passed away a couple of weeks ago in WA in a white-water accident so to the family our thoughts are with you through at this pretty difficult time, so we would like to dedicate that to them,” Bird said.
Speaking of the final itself, Bird said the pair were happy with their race execution.
“We got away alright and then just stuck to our race plan and managed to have some composure at the end so we are pretty happy with the way it went,” Bird said.
Full results for the Oceania Championships/Grand Prix 2 can be viewed here.
