Current and former World Champions including Adam Van Koeverden (CAN), Max Hoff (GER), Eirik Veraas Larsen (NOR), Lisa Carrington (NZL), Yvonne Schurring and Viktoria Schwartz (AUT) have all confirmed their participation in the first World Cup of the 2012 season, ensuring an exciting weekend of racing ahead.
World Cup 1 provides the perfect opportunity for the Aussies to benchmark their performance against the best in the world just months out from the London Olympics.
Jacob Clear and Ken Wallace will depart from their 1000m Men’s Munich training camp on Thursday to join the 200m group of WAIS-AIS athletes Alana Nicholls, Steve Bird and Jesse Phillips along with Joel Simpson who are currently training at the AIS purpose built European Training Centre in Varese, Italy.
200m coach and Ramon Andersson (WAIS head coach) is pleased with the progress of his charges following several solid training sessions in ideal conditions. The group were put through their paces with some time trials over the weekend and are in taper mode now ahead of the first competition.
“There is going to be some great racing at the World Cups where we will be testing ourselves against the world’s best and look to execute our race plans to the best of our ability to give us a good idea of where we stand as we work towards the London Olympics,” said Andersson.
Beijing Olympians, Ken Wallace and Jacob Clear should be strong contenders in the K2 over 1000m whilst Wallace will face off with fellow Beijing Olympic medallists Tim Brabants (GBT) and Eirik Veraas Larsen of Norway in the 1000m men’s field in what promises to be a star-studded affair.
Brabants, who’s yet to secure his Olympic berth needs a strong performance in Poznan where he faces fellow Brit Paul Wych-erley for the chance to compete on home turf in August.
Alana Nicholls will have her work cut out up against reigning 200m world champ, Lisa Carrington of New Zealand and home crowd favourite Marta Walczykiewicz of Poland who took silver in Szeged over 200m last year. Nicholls comes off the back of a hugely successful domestic season in which she qualified for and earned herself a place in both the 200m and 500m women’s spots on the Olympic team.
TV broadcasters including Eurosport will be televising several 1000m & 500m A Finals fuelling the public’s interest in Canoeing leading into London 2012.
– Canoeing Australia
