Oldenhof Competes in World Cup Event

Lisa Oldenhof competed in the first World Cup of the season in Szeged, Hungary over the weekend as the Australian Olympic Canoeing team prepares for Beijing.

Oldenhof paddled in the back seat of the women’s K4 in a field featuring two very strong crews from both Germany and Hungary. The Australian women were the highest placed nation outside of those four crews.

The German number one crew won the race in a time of 1:33.35min. ahead of Hungary 1 and Germany 2. Australia clocked a time of 1:37.89min. The Australian’s now will have the confidence that they can match the top nations in the world.

Oldenhof and K4 crewmate Lyndsie Fogarty claimed second place in the B Final of the Women’s K2 500m on the final afternoon of racing. Oldenhof and Fogarty recorded a time of 1:57.64min. to finish just under a second behind the Polish crew who won the B final. After trailing by more than a second at the halfway mark, the Australian crew came back at Poland in the last portion of the race but could not quite make up the difference.

Attention will now turn to the second World Cup in Duisburg, Germany this weekend where Oldenhof is moving into the stroke seat of the K4 and will also contest the K1 500m.

Oldenhof will be joined by Alana Nicholls, Jesse, Reece Baker and Steve Bird as members of the Australian Senior/U23 team that join up with the Olympic team this week for regattas in Germany and Poland over the next three weeks.

Meanwhile WAIS paddlers not competing overseas in June raced in the State Marathon Championships over the weekend on the Canning River in Riverton. Michael Baker and Lee Davey finished second and third, respectively in the men’s K1 field while Jenni Bateman was untroubled in winning the women’s event.