WAIS kayakers competed at third and final round of the World Cup series on the weekend with a B Final win to Jesse Phillips and Stephen Bird in the men’s K2 200m highlighting WA’s campaign in Hungary.
Having qualified for the A Final at the previous world cup round, Phillips and Bird found the going slightly tougher in their second European hit-out, missing out on the A Final in the semi-final stage, before posting their best race for the series in the secondary final to win in a slick time of 32.780.
The pair who will take Australia’s position in the K2 200m event at this year’s World Championships in Russia in August, produced a dominant performance to win by 0.288 of a second over Serbians Marko Novakovic and Ognjen Filipovic, with Hungarian duo Bence Horvath and Mate Szomolanyi further back in third.
Brodie Holmes qualified for the B Final in the men’s K1 200m event, finishing fifth in 36.130 ahead of compatriot Lachlan Tame (41.734) in eighth, with victory taken by Poland’s Denis Ambroziak in 35.572.
Holmes also teamed with rising talent Jordan Wood in the men’s K2 500m event, with the pair reaching the B Final and finishing sixth, in a time of 1:34.504. The race was won by Serbian paddlers Milenko Zoric and Aleksander Aleksic (1:33.124).
World Cup series debutant Jaime Roberts made her second appearance for Australia, competing in the women’s K2 500m alongside Catherine Mcarthur, with the duo eighth in their semi final, and missing out on progression. The newly formed duo showed promising signs, to improve their times across the world cup series, and will look to come back stronger and faster in 2015.
