After a successful European summer of racing, capped off by some outstanding performances at the World Championships in Szeged, where the Australian’s qualified a total of nine quotas and collected three medals, Australia’s senior sprint paddlers have returned to training this week after spending the last few weeks on holiday.
Two athletes to shine in Szeged were WAIS-AIS scholarship holder Alana Nicholls and Queensland’s Jacob Clear. Nicholls qualified two Olympic quotas in the women’s K1 200 and K1 500, while Clear was a key member sitting at the rear of the men’s silver medal winning K4 1000m crew.
Nicholls returned to training recently following a four week break, which saw the 25 year old travel to Portugal where she competed at the Nelo Summer Challenge, while Clear spent his break travelling through Bali, which proved a popular destination with fellow Queenslander Ken Wallace also taking some time out there.
“It was great having some time off; I travelled to Portugal and enjoyed relaxing”, Nicholls said. “It’s hard getting back into training, (I’m) doing a lot of cross training activities like boxing and running, and trying to get back up to strength, I lost while on break.”
Clear has a similar approach to Nicholls and has been focusing on establishing a fitness base and ‘getting some miles under his belt’.
The next race on the agenda for Nicholls will be Grand Prix 1, and the WAIS paddler is looking forward to competing at the event in front of her home crowd at Champion Lakes.
– Canoe Australia
