Roberts and Aussie K4 500 Crew Secure Tokyo Boat

Jaime Roberts and the Australian women’s K4 500 crew have
achieved their goal of securing the nation an entry for next year’s Tokyo
Olympic Games.

Competing at the ICF Sprint Canoe World Championships in
Hungary, the Aussie crew qualified for the nine-boat A-Final where they
finished in seventh place in a time of 1:37.29.

Despite some external uncertainty around the selection
criteria for the Olympic quota spots, Australia had in fact already done enough
for a Tokyo berth by virtue of making the A-Final, with official regulations
offering spots to the top 10 nations.

Nonetheless, the Australians made sure of their fate, by paddling
three strong rounds across the heats, semis and A-Final to finish with a
seventh placed ranking, which saw the crew register the same result that they’d
posted at the 2018 World Championships.

The Aussie crew was represented by Roberts, Alyssa Bull,
Alyce Burnett and Jo Brigden-Jones.

Speaking after the final, Burnett confirmed that the
Australian girls had done their homework and had known they were safe ahead of
the final.

“The selection policy is very confusing, but we knew
everyone in the top ten was safe,” Burnett said.

“But to make us extra safe, we wanted to be top eight. We
got seventh, and we were happy with our race, but we would have preferred to be
much higher.

“We got seventh last year as well, but we’ve got a lot to
build on, the field is a lot closer than last year, we were only point two off
fifth, so we’re very excited.This is not just for us but for Australia.
And to know that we have a few girls going to the Olympics now is pretty cool.”

The next phase will now require athletes to earn their
individual spots for the Australian Olympic Team. This process will take place over the Australian domestic summer, via a series of all important selection regattas.

Brigden-Jones said that each of the K4 crew members would
now refocus on the important job at hand.

“We have a lot of work to do. We’ll have sixth
months now to get ourselves qualified for the team but it’s an exciting
prospect to work towards.”

If Jaime Roberts can secure her ticket, she will make an
Olympic debut in Japan. She has been an ever-present on the Australian sprint
team over the past three years.

In Hungary, she and Brigden-Jones also enjoyed a
productive campaign in the non-Olympic women’s K2 200 event.

The pair once again made an A-Final, where they took out
eighth place in a time of 38.35.

Hungary claimed the women’s K4 500 title, whilst Belarus
won the K2 200 final.

Further results can be viewed here.

Photo (C) Steve McArthur – Paddle Australia