ICF World Junior Kayak Champs this weekend
ICF Junior Sprint World Championship
29-31 July 2016, Minsk, Belarus
CRNZ is proud to send a massive, 26-strong team to compete in Minsk this weekend at the 2017 ICF Junior Kayak World Championships.
The team includes four K4 crews (men's and women's in both the under-23 and under-18 divisions) as well as K1 and K2 combinations. CRNZ boss Mark Weatherall hopes that his investment in big boats pays off by exposing the paddlers to top levels of competition early in their career. He explains:
As we've seen with our Olympic K4, it also allows us to bring a handful of paddlers through at the same level, constantly pushing each other and improving their paddling in a tight team environment.
In fact, the K4 crews were lucky enough to train with the NZ WK4 Olympic Team (Jamiee Lovett, Caitlin Ryan, Aimee Fisher and Kayla Imrie) before they headed to the Rio Olympics (which opens next Friday). Apparently it was quite a sight seeing the five big boats power across Lake Karapiro. No mention of who won though...
The team has been acclimatising in Slovenia for the last few weeks and are pumped.
Hopefully some of this NZ junior team will be competing in the Japan Olympics in 2020. Good luck guys!
Who to watch
This is the second Junior Worlds for many athletes, including the Under 18 paddlers Thomas Cole, Shani Clark and Tess Allen.
WK2 500m Under 23 Team: Briar McLeely and Rebecca Cole – finished second in the B final last year
WK4 500m Under 23 Team: Briar McLeely, Rebecca Cole, Kim Thompson and Danielle Currie placed 9th last year (NZ’s best result).
MK1 U23 1000m: Kurtis Imrie placed fifth in the under-18 in 2014
Links:
Livestreaming coverage on the ICF Website
Live results on Canoe Minsk Website – in English, searchable by race, competition etc.
Results and timetable on the CRNZ Website – updated daily NZ-centric start lists, event timetable etc.
CRNZ Facebook Page – daily updates, photosand news from inside the NZ camp
Breakdancers perform at the Opening Ceremony
The New Zealand Junior Team List
Under-18 Women: Tess Allen (Mana), Rochelle Austin (North Shore), Shani Clark (Arawa), Samalulu Clifton (North Shore), Danielle Watson (Mana).
Under-18 Men: Quaid Thompson (Poverty Bay), Thomas Cole (Waitara), Ben Duffy (Arawa), Zach Ferkins (Poverty Bay), Jake Koekemoer (Arawa), Hamish Legarth (Hawke’s Bay), Ethan Moore (Mana), Ashton Reiser (North Shore).
Under-23 Women: Rebecca Cole (North Shore), Britney Ford (Poverty Bay), Elise Legarth (Hawke’s Bay), Briar McLeely (North Shore), Erica Tanner (Wanganui), Gemma Woolcock (Mana).
Under-23 Men: Max Brown (Wanganui), Taris Harker (BOP), Kurtis Imrie (Mana), Karl McMurtrie (North Shore), Tim Waller (BOP).
Coaching/management: Paul Fidow (coach/manager), Mark Watson (coach), Frederic Loyer (coach), Alison Pritchard (Manager).
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