The WAIS kayaking program has returned its strongest ever set of results from a national championship campaign, with WAIS scholarship holders winning scores of medals at last week’s event in Adelaide.
Following on from the success of the earlier K 1000m events, WAIS paddlers excelled in the K 500m and K200m boats, with WAIS-AIS scholarship holder Alana Nicholls and the WAIS-AIS pair of Jesse Phillips and Stephen Bird both winning daul national titles.
Nicholls provided evidence she would be the sprint kayak competitor to watch at next week’s selection trials in Penrith with strong wins in the K1 500m and K1 200m, whilst also taking silver medals in the K2 500m and K2 200m.
Heading into the K1 500m final, Nicholls was up against a strong field that included Beijing Olympic medallist Hannah Davis and the impressive Hailey McGinty, but she was able to hold strong, edging the pair in a time of 2:01.57 for her first national title win. Nicholls had earlier won silver with former WAIS scholarship holder Rachael Simper in the final of the K2 500m, but was narrowly pipped at the post by the NSW combination of Naomi Flood and Alyce Burnett. Hannah Davis and fellow Olympian Lyndsie Fogarty were forced to settle for third.
Nicholls secured a second national crown in the K1 200m – a new Olympic event in London – with a strong paddle in the final to overcome a spirited challenge from Davis, winning by just ten-hundredths of a second (0:44.17). Nicholls paired with Davis for the final of the K2 200m event but was unable to overhaul a bright start from the pair of McGinty and Rachael Lovell. Nicholls earned silver from the event for an individual haul of four medals from Adelaide.
The reigning men’s K2 200m national championship outfit of Jesse Phillips and Stephen Bird were able to successfully defend their crown after winning from Olympic gold medallist Ken Wallace and national team member Murray Stewart, taking line honours by just one-hundredth of a second in the most exciting finish of the championships. The Perth pair crossed the line in 34.95secs and will need to be at there best at next week’s selection trials.
Phillips and Bird also claimed victory in the K2 500m event after recording a tight win over their WAIS training partners Brodie Holmes and Daniel Bowker – who had both earlier impressed in the longer K1 and K2 1000m events. Phillips and Bird clocked a time of 1:36.01 to take gold marginally ahead of Holmes and Bowker in 1:36.23.
The WAIS quadruple of Phillips, Bird, Holmes and Bowker fielded a strong K4 200m boat to finish second behind a composite boat of Smith, Simpson, Urquhart and Stewart.
K1 500m Olympic champion Ken Wallace showed his class over the distance to win the 2011 national title ahead of two WAIS athletes in Brendon Sarson and Brodie Holmes. Wallace clocked a time of 1:42.26 over the 500m course, whilst Sarson (1:44.17) and Holmes (1:44.35) fought out a close battle for second and third respectively. Young WAIS paddler Lachlan Cooke produced a spirited effort to qualify for the A final, finishing ninth in a time of 1:49.07.
WAIS flat water canoeing athlete Farenc Szekszardi also enjoyed a productive national campaign with wins in the C4 and C2 200m events, whilst recording a fourth place finish in the C1 200m. Szekszardi paired with fellow canoe paddlers Marczak, Florian and Beaver for gold in the C4 category, whilst Szekszardi and Marczak teamed for success in the C2 ahead of Florian and Bever.
