Great Britain’s Jeanette Chippington braved torrid conditions to advance as a hailstorm brought an abrupt end to day two of the 2025 International Canoe Federation Paracanoe World Championships in Milan, Italy.
The 55-year-old paddler, a two-time Paralympic medallist in Paracanoe, demonstrated grit and determination to battle through the deluge to take top spot in the second heat of the women’s VL2 200m.
It was the final race to be completed before organisers postponed the rest of the Paracanoe competition due to the adverse weather.
Canada’s Brianna Hennessy came through the opening VL2 heat in first place before the heavens opened.
Hailstones came down as the conditions worsened but Chippington, still wearing her sunglasses, dug deep to maintain first position.
AIN paddler Ekaterina Statsenko, Uzbekistan’s Irodakhon Rustamova, Germany’s Edina Mueller, Italy’s Veronica Biglia and Nisha Rawat were also peltered by the hail but battled hard to finish the race.
Chippington, who won KL1 gold at Rio 2016 and VL2 bronze at Tokyo 2020 as well as multiple world titles, said she just knuckled down and focused on getting to the finish line first.
“On the startline, it was starting to rain a bit but in the last 70 metres there were hail stones, it was incredible,” said Chippington.
“All I kept thinking about was just staying in my lane, keep going, keep going and keep going.
“I literally had my sunglasses still on.
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“When I stopped, (the hail stones) really hurt but then I was so worried as I couldn’t see whether I had been called for boat control or not.
“In my head, I was thinking ‘Oh my god, I don’t want to be disqualified for not going to boat control’.
“I won my heat, so I’m pleased.”
Chippington, who is back racing in Milan which last hosted the World Championships in 2015, added: “It's really special to be here.
“I have to pinch myself sometimes to think would I have thought 10 years ago that I would still be coming back here.
“But I feel as strong as ever and I just want to go out there and prove myself.”
The only other Paracanoe race to be held on day two came in the men’s KL1 200m as Portugal’s Alex Santos topped his semi-final.
China’s Jianrong Zhu and Kazakhstan’s Maxim Bogatyrev also progressed to the final after finishing in the top three.
Full coverage of the ICF Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Championships can be viewed on the Planet Canoe YouTube channel.
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