Spence and Russell bring up double at Canadian sprint trials

ICFmedia

15 Mai 2017

Craig Spence and Michelle Russell found themselves on top of the podium again on the second day of Canadian canoe sprint national team trials on Sunday, as paddlers competed for selection to national teams, including the contingent to represent Canada at World Cup competitions in Europe later this month.

“I'm very pleased by the strong performances of our athletes, including many of our younger athletes, as we enter our first World Cup season following the Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games,” said Graham Barton, Chief Technical Officer of Canoe Kayak Canada.

“I have a real sense of optimism this year and am excited about the strength and future of our program.”

In senior men’s C1 1000m, Spence (Dartmouth, NS) repeated a win in a second final of the event. Mark Oldershaw (Burlington, ON) was second again.

Michelle Russell (Fall River, NS) won the women’s K1 500m to make for double wins over the weekend, including her victory in the K1 200m distance on Saturday.

Alex Scott (Bedford, NS) started off the day with a win in the men’s K1 200m.

“I knew these guys were all going to be really fast off the line,” said Scott.

“I knew my strength was the middle and the end, so I wasn’t very phased and I was able to execute the rest of the race pretty well perfectly.”

The men’s K4 Olympic distance is slated to go to 500m for the 2020 Games. Marshall Hughes (Waverley, NS) won the men’s K1 500m on Sunday which will factor into the selection pool for crew boats.

Katie Vincent (Mississauga, ON) won the women’s C1 500m to beat out Laurence Vincent-Lapointe (Trois-Rivières, QC), who finished second and won the C1 200m yesterday.

“I put my head down and I just went,” said Vincent.

“We were pretty neck and neck the whole way so I was really happy with my finish at the end.”

Paracanoe athletes raced their second final of the weekend. Classification categories were combined for the race with Zacharie Lauziere-Fitzgerald (Sherbrooke, QC) finishing first, Trinity Tratch (Calgary, AB) second, Troy Chown (Ottawa, ON) third and Mathieu St-Pierre (Shawinigan, QC) was fourth. Athletes are chasing performance standards for their events.

“Today went well, better than yesterday,” said Lauziere-Fitzgerald.

“I’m still focused on having fun. I’ve been doing this for ten years and I just try to keep having more fun with it as I progress.”

Summary of Results

Event	Result
Senior Men’s K1 200m	1) Alex Scott (Bedford, NS) 2) Ryan Cochrane (Windsor, NS) 3) Dominik Crête (Saskatoon, SK)
Senior Men’s C1 1000m final 2	1) Craig Spence (Dartmouth, NS) 2) Mark Oldershaw (Burlington, ON) 3) Mark James (Dartmouth, NS)
Senior Women’s K1 500m	1) Michelle Russell (Fall River, NS) 2) Andréanne Langlois (Québec, QC) 3) Courtney Stott (Pickering, ON)
Senior Women’s C1 500m	1) Katie Vincent (Mississauga, ON) 2) Laurence Vincent-Lapointe (Trois-Rivières, QC) 3) Anne-Sophie Lavoie-Parent (Trois-Rivières, QC)
Senior Men’s K1 500m	1) Marshall Hughes (Waverley, NS) 2) Pierre-Luc Poulin (Lac-Beauport, QC) 3) Zane Clarke (Selkirk, MB)
Paracanoe KL VL 1,2,3 200m final 2	1) Zacharie Lauziere-Fitzgerald (Sherbrooke, QC) 2) Trinity Tratch (Calgary, AB) 3) Troy Chown (Ottawa, ON) 4) Mathieu St-Pierre (Shawinigan, QC)