The WAIS kayaking program will turn its attentions to the home matters this weekend as the entire squad compete at the WA State Sprint Championships at Champion Lakes.
With Olympic selection trials due to start soon, head coach Ramon Andersson has set a busy schedule for his athletes, with all scholarship holders competing in each event this weekend.
With qualification for London now firmly on the agenda, Andersson stated the athletes under consideration had been showing good form in training.
“The paddlers in Olympic contention are training really well. They have made good progress over summer and will be looking to achieve good performances in the coming weeks, starting at Champion Lakes,” Andersson said.
Multiple World Cup medallist Alana Nicholls is expected to take a clean sweep of the K1 200 and 500m events, with Andersson suggesting she will look to rehearse her race plans for the Olympic selection meets.
In the men’s K1 200m and 500m, Andersson is expecting a much closer battle for line honours, with a strong selection in the mix.
“In the K1 200 I’d expect a three way tussle between Stephen Bird, Jesse Phillips and Brodie Holmes, with Bird the slight favourite,” he said. Whilst in the K1 500m Andersson expects Reece Baker and Brendan Sarson to challenge the trio mentioned in the 200m event.
Jesse Phillips and Stephen Bird are hot favourites in the K2 200m, an event they hold the national title for, whilst in the distance events over 1000m it is always difficult to predict a winner, with a close finish normally deciding the order.
Also in action this weekend is C boat paddler Ferenc Szekszardi, who will be focused on racing the clock, as the only male competitor in his class. Szekszardi is coming off a successful 2011 campaign that saw him represent Australia at the World Championships.
Phillips and Bird this week took some time out around training to visit the Canning River Canoe Club, where the pair hosted a training clinic focused on improving technique through the Go for 2&5 WAIS Community Development Program.
The club posted pictures of the visit on their website, along with a thank you to the boys for their time reading “The boys held a technique session before getting the youngsters on the water for some hands on advice. The juniors loved every minute and Steve and Jesse were presented with a thank you gift for their efforts. Many of the old timers were also trying to get a few tips. A big thankyou Steve and Jesse.”
Andersson praised the willingness of two of his senior athletes for their efforts to raise the sports profile.
“Jesse and Steve are really good like that. They put a lot back in. It would be good to see more athletes like that.”
