The 2014 National Sprint Championships begin in Adelaide tomorrow from the West Lakes Canoe Club.
252 athletes will compete at the Championships which double as selection trials for the 2014 Senior, Junior and Olympic Hopes teams.
A strong contingent of Western Australian Institute of Sport athletes have made the trip for competition, with a make-up of reigning national champions interspersed by a group of athletes hoping to take the top step of the medal dais for the first time.
With Australia boasting a world class pool of 1000m athletes, it is anticipated the events across this distance will be among the most hotly contested.
2012 Olympic gold medallists Tate Smith, David Smith, Murray Stewart and Jacob Clear will headline a strong field, and appear unbeatable in the men’s K4 event.
The K2 1000m however, looms as one of the most intriguing events of the competition roster.
Raced on the opening day of the program, Murray Stewart and Jacob Clear are considered favourites for the title, but will come under pressure from two crews in the form of Ken Wallace and David Smith and WAIS athlete Daniel Bowker partnering Tate Smith.
Bowker made the decision to relocate to the Gold Coast after missing selection for the 2012 Olympic K4 team that went on to win gold in London. His development since the switch to the specialist 1000m training base has seen rapid improvements, with the former surf ski paddler now very much on the tail of the nation’s best 1000m specialists.
Some observers have suggested the K2 1000m could pose the biggest threat of an upset, with the race anticipated to be a scrap to the line between three talented and fast crews.
The race for the senior K1 500m and K1 200m women’s berths is another keenly anticipated focus of this year’s Championships, with Western Australian Institute of Sport athlete Alana Nicholls, former Ironwoman Naomi Flood, Bernadette Wallace of Currumbin Creek, Sydney Northern Beaches’ kayaker Jo Brigden-Jones and Sunshine Coast paddler Alyce Burnett all in contention for the coveted K1 National titles.
Nicholls has held the whip hand in recent Championships, and her form through the domestic season to date, suggests she’ll again be the one to beat to the line.
NSWIS pair Brigden-Jones and Flood are considered the prime crew in the women’s K2 500m direct final on Thursday, but the favourites will face a stern challenge from Nicholls and fellow WAIS scholarship holder Jaime Roberts, while Mitta Mitta kayaker Amy Peters will partner 2013 World Cup star Bernadette Wallace.
The K4 500 is expected to be dominated by senior quartet of Brigden-Jones, Nicholls, Flood and Wallace.
WAIS athlete Steve Bird will be looking to make in back to back K1 200m National titles in Adelaide, but such is the nature of the sprint event, there will be a large talent pool of challengers to his throne, with fellow WAIS athletes Jesse Phillips and Brodie Holmes leading the charge alongside last year’s runner up Lachlan Tame, from a final that saw the top six boats separated by a mere .78 of a second.
London Olympic pairing Bird and Phillips will start firm favourites in the K2 200m event where they will be going for a fifth consecutive National title.
The WAIS duo that has branded themselves “Double Down Under” will face a strong challenge from their Bayswater training partners, with Holmes and Todd Brewer joining a throng of aspirants including; Tame and Wallace, Ben Gallard and Tim Donkin, Dunn and Carson and U23 Oceania champions Robert McIntyre and Mark Stowe in chasing the two-man sprint crown.
WAIS will also be well represented by Brock Ingram in the Paracanoe events on Friday, with the 2013 World Championship representative again considered one of the fastest men in Australia in the LTA (leg, trunk and arms) class.
