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RESULTS DAY 1: Junior World Champs

July 29, 2016

Mixed bag for NZ Team on Day One of ICF Junior World Champs

For the Under 18 MK2 team of Zach Ferkins (left) and Ashton Reiser, the greenstone pendants they wore weren't as lucky as they'd hoped: the team finished ninth in their Semifinal.

Their ponamu pendants were hit with the Belarus commentators – who are surprisingly superstitious types, reporting that other competitors had better results taking lucky money with them on the water. However, windy conditions may have contributed to the lack of good fortune on the day.

Two New Zealand crews have qualified for B finals after a mixed first day at the canoe sprint junior world championships in Belarus.

Junior K1 1000m: Quaid Thompson finished sixth in his semifinal, going on to race his B Final on Saturday (Race 164, 18:10 NZT). His time of 3:40.237 time was 5 seconds faster than his heat, though 3 seconds behind the top-3 in his semifinal.

He also races in the Junior MK1 200m on Friday (Race 119, Heat 3, 00:10 Saturday NZT).

Junior WK4 500m: (Tess Allen, Danielle Watson, Rochelle Austin, and Shani Clark finished seventh in their semifinal in 1:42.193 – 3 secs faster than their heat! Great stuff girls. They progress to the B Final on Saturday (Race 162, 18:00 NZT)

Under-23 WK4 500m: (Britney Ford, Elise Legarth, Erica Tanner and Gemma Woolcock) finished eighth in their 500m semifinal and didn't progress.

Junior MK2 1000m: Ashton Reiser and Zach Ferkins finished ninth in their semifinal.

Friday's racing will feature most of the 26-strong squad in action, with six crews tackling 500m and 1000m heats in the morning session and another six taking on the 200m sprints in the afternoon.