The senior sprint and Paracanoe teams are busy making their final preparations for the ICF World Championships which begin in Duisburg, Germany on Wednesday.
The sprint World Championships is the biggest event on the International Canoe Federation (ICF) Calendar for 2013.
850 athletes from 75 countries will take part, with the field including 19 gold medallists from the 2012 London Olympics. Australia’s gold medal winning K4 crew of Tate Smith, David Smith, Murray Stewart and Jacob Clear will once again be the nation’s best chance of a medal and will no doubt be looking to complete the double after their success in London last year.
The K4 men have been training alongside Ken Wallace in Szolnok, Hungary under the ever watchful eye of Head Coach Jimmy Owens.The Australian women and the male sprinters have spent their lead-up training at the European Training Centre in Varese, Italy.
Jesse Phillips made his Olympic debut in the K2 200 boat with fellow Western Australian Institute of Sport athlete Steve Bird last year finishing sixth in the A final.
The pair has been fine tuning their program under the guidance of coaches Ramon Andersson (WAIS head coach) and Mike Pond and Phillips believes their boat will compete strongly in Duisburg.
“We are travelling with great momentum after selections in June, with plenty of bankable elements to our program and pushing some decent numbers in the gym,” said Phillips.
“I enjoy racing at Duisburg, it is one of the fairest courses in the world and the racing atmosphere is always intense.”
WAIS will also be represented in the 200m sprint group by Alana Nicholls and Brodie Holmes, with the latter making his world championship debut.
The Paracanoe events will be held on the opening day of the 2013 Senior Sprint World Championships which run from the 28th August to 1st September.
This year’s team will be a mix of old and new with experienced trio Brock Ingram (WAIS), Kara Kennedy and Glenn Pyne being joined by first-timers Amanda Drennan and Colin Sieders.
The 2013 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships will be held from 28th August to 1st September.
– CanoeingAustralia
