Australia’s premiere sprint kayakers will return to action tomorrow for Grand Prix 3 at the Sydney International Regatta Centre with a star studded field assembled for the three day event.
Western Australian Institute of Sport athletes Alana Nicholls and Stephen Bird will make their returns to grand prix racing following last year’s Olympic Games in London.
Nicholls will headline events in the women’s K1 200m and 500m events, whilst Bird, who competed with fellow WAIS athlete Jesse Phillips in London, will focus on individual events, whilst his competition partner rebuilds competitive fitness following post Olympic surgery.
The women’s K1 500 heats are scheduled on Friday morning with Nicholls back on track and likely to face tough competition from London Olympic K1 200m champion Lisa Carrington, who has made the trip across the Tasman. Manly Warringah’s Naomi Flood will mount a strong challenge, with the 26 year old paddling full of confidence following an impressive second place finish in the 2012/13 Telstra Ironwoman Series.
On Saturday, Australia’s 200m specialists will get their chance to hit the water at SIRC with Carrington, Nicholls and NSWIS paddler Jo Brigden-Jones amongst the favourite to post a win.
Stephen Bird, Manly Warringah’s Murray Stewart, emerging paddlers Lachlan Tame and Nick Dawe, and Gold Coast’s Joel Simpson will fight out the K1 200 title. Simpson in particular, will be hungry for the win after narrowly missing out on Olympic selection last year.
The men’s K1 1000 event promises to be fiercely competitive with K4 stars Murray Stewart and Jacob Clear set to battle it out with Sweden gun Anders Gustafsson for line honours, with the Swede coming off a fifth place finish at the London Olympic Games.
Currumbin Creek veteran Ken Wallace leads a list of challengers after impressing at the Oceania Championships in New Zealand a fortnight ago, winning six events. Three of those victories came in a K2 alongside Lachlan Tame, another exciting young paddler who will be one to watch this weekend.
Tame and Wallace will also combine in the K2 1000 event with the duo looking to continue their red hot New Zealand form. They will face strong competition from K4 paddlers Clear and Stewart, and Tate and David Smith, while the Western Australian Institute of Sport pairing of Reece Baker and Daniel Bowker should keep everyone on their toes.
Headlining the 2013 event however, will be London Olympic K4 1000 champions Tate Smith (QLD), David Smith (QLD), Murray Stewart (NSW) and David Smith (QLD), with the quartet excited to be back in action and looking forward to a big 2013.
“Preparation has been good. We had a K4 training camp last week and Smithy (David Smith) and Jake (Clear) are looking fast,” said Tate Smith.
“I personally am looking forward to racing all the distances, getting fitter and going fast and fine tuning ahead of Nationals in April.”
Racing will commence on Friday morning with men’s K1 1000 and women’s K1 500 heats to get proceedings underway.
– with Australian Canoeing
