GB PRESS RELEASE: Like most of the country, Great Britain’s canoe slalom athletes also have the question of Europe on their minds, as they arrive in Slovakia this week for the European Championships in Liptovsky, 13-15 May.
This is the first international competition of the season and with Europe the dominant force in this exciting and challenging sport, it will be an important test of how winter preparations have gone and the first of only two chances for the selected Team GB athletes to pit themselves against some of the best paddlers in the World, ahead of the Olympic Games in Rio.
The Olympic quartet of David Florence (C1 & C2), Richard Hounslow (C2), Fiona Pennie (K1) and Joe Clarke (K1) have recently returned from their third training block on the 2016 Games course at Deodora in Brazil and will be particularly keen to get into race mode.
As he has for a number of seasons, Florence will compete in both the C1 and C2 classes - and as the reigning C1 world champion, expectations for the first race of the season are high.
“I am looking forward to racing— it has been a while since I have done a major race,” he said.
“If I had to choose one event this season (in which) to do well, I would rather it was the Olympics. But of course I want to do well in every race I am in so I will be giving it everything this week. For us, the Europeans is pretty much a world championships because so many of the best guys in the world are from Europe so it will be a tough field.”
Olympic rookie in K1, Joe Clarke has enjoyed his recent weeks in Brazil: “Rio was fantastic and the facility is coming together quite nicely now. The course configuration is nearly set as it will be for the Games, it is not as big as the course at Lee Valley, but it will still be a huge challenge.
“I feel in good shape, with training going well, but it will be good to race this week and see where we stack up against the other guys in the world. I have paddled at Liptovsky before and it will be an exciting race. I would like to get in the final and then see if I can challenge for the medals.”
Also looking to have another successful season will be the 2015 World Championship bronze medallist in C1, Ryan Westley and the 2015 U23 World Champion in C1 Adam Burgess, along with Bradley Forbes-Cryans in K1 who had an outstanding first senior World Championships on his home course last September.
“We have recently been on an intensive two-week training camp in Liptovsky with some racing on the Euros course thrown in,” said Bradley.
“This will be my second year on the senior team and I am looking to put in a few more good results and step it on again from last season. My target is to make my first senior final and ideally more than one. I learnt last year that you have to race you own race and you can’t focus on anyone else or the racing won’t go your way.”
Adam Burgess has spent recent months travelling and training in Australia and New Zealand in a move to help him make the full step up to senior ranks, having won Great Britain’s first ever gold medal at the U23 World Championships in 2015.
Excited to be back racing, Adam said: “I feel really good and have had an awesome start to 2016, having made three finals already in the Australian Open winning bronze, the Oceania Open, and then in Liptovsky two weeks ago.
“I loved every minute of training over the winter and the change of scene with the sun shining has certainly helped to push me on. I want to put more good clean runs down in semi-finals and qualify for more finals which I have already started doing this year and if I do that I can hopefully get amongst the senior medals this year. My win in Brazil at U23 Worlds and strong performance at the senior Worlds last year have given me a lot of confidence going forwards.”
“The course at Liptovsky is very narrow and very shallow so that makes it quite different to Lee Valley. There are a lot of features on the course, but they are a lot smaller than we are used to. You need to be a bit more precise with your lines and be careful where you push hard and where you ease off. It will be about getting to below the main drop solid and then it will be important to have some energy left for the bottom half, where a lot of time will change hands.”
For the women’s C1 paddlers, who will have to wait another four years to grace the Olympic stage, there is still much to play for and reigning European Champion, Kimberley Woods is determined to build on a fabulous 2015 in both canoe and kayak.
“I have been mainly in my kayak (K1) this winter as I had a knee operation last November. I got back in C1 in February and it was great to get a race win out in Liptovsky which was a great confidence boost ahead of this week.
“I am going to do more races this year in both boats than ever before and I feel I’ve got to the point where my experience and fitness can cope with this. I think there will be a little more pressure on me going in as reigning champion, but it is a really competitive class now with a number of girls who could win, so it will be interesting to see who can keep a steady head and win the race. Liptovsky course designers are well known for their stagger sequences so I have been practicing that at the training camp.”
C1 European silver medallist and U23 World silver medallist, Mallory Franklin, is also pleased to be starting the season injury free after a challenging 2015.
“I have had a full winter training so I am feeling pretty confident. Liptovsky is a very difficult course to paddle on, but I like that and going down the big drop is fun and you get pushed round a lot. Depending what gates they set, the drop will be the point where a lot of things change hands.”
The racing starts on Friday 13th May with heats in all classes with semis and finals on Saturday and Sunday. You can follow the action live on https://www.canoeicf.com/results-pages/2016-eca-senior-european-championships
FULL TEAM LIST
C1M - David Florence, Ryan Westley, Adam Burgess
C1W - Kimberley Woods, Eilidh Gibson, Mallory Franklin
K1M - Joe Clarke, Huw Swetnam, Bradley-Forbes-Cryans
K1W - Fiona Pennie, Lizzie Neave, Kimberly Woods
C2M - David Florence & Richard Hounslow, Mark Proctor & Etienne Stott
