Looking Back on Szeged and Forward to Duisburg

This report by Dave Macleod on the GPKayak group.

Duisburg, Germany – Following last weekend’s showdown in Szeged that settled the tussle between ace national sprint canoeists Jen Hodson and Bridgitte Hartley for the solitary women’s 500m K1 berth at the Beijing Olympics, Hartley will team up in a K2 with Michele Eray at this weekend’s World Cup in Germany.

While crushed by her defeat in the A final of the women’s 500m K1 race in Hungary last weekend, Hartley has refocused her energy on her partnership with Eray, who is also a key member of the high-flying women’s K4 squad.

“Bridgitte and I have been paddling together in the K2, so it was a logical decision,” said Eray. “She has already qualified for the Olympics, and it now adds a new dimension to our Olympic dream by adding a serious K2 challenge to the women’s K1 and K4 races.”

The duo have entered the weekend’s Duisburg regatta, and hope to get their K2 combination to click at what is widely regarded as the most fiercely competitive sprint regatta in the world.

This weekend’s regatta marks a return to the course where the women’s K4 caught the canoeing world’s attention when they qualified for the Olympics at last year’s World Championships.

“We love this course!” enthused Eray. “We made the A final here in our first K4 season, and last year we qualified for Beijing here. We also have a good draw for the first heat this year, so we are feeling very positive about our chances.”

The K4 challenge at last weekend’s World Cup in Szeged was derailed by Eray falling prey to a stomach virus that left her weakened, Carol Joyce was battling with a cold, and Nikki Mocke struggled with an eye completely closed for four days after being stung by a bee.

“If you consider that we missed out on making the A final by 0.004 of a second, in our first regatta of the season, and with all the attention focused on the battle for the K1 place, then we didn’t do too badly,” said Mocke.

“Our Olympic plans are right on track,” Mocke added. “We are continually working on the technical aspects of our combination, and every week it feels like we are a faster stronger and more experienced crew.”

Shaun Rubenstein will also be looking to the Duisburg course to further his Olympic fine tuning. It was at this venue that he hit the canoeing headlines by medalling in the 3000m event as an unknown youngster against some of the world’s best sprinters a few years ago.

Rubenstein made the B finals of both the men’s 1000m and 500m K1 races in Szeged, proving to be competitive against the world’s best in some heavily loaded semi-finals. The Benoni star had to settle for fourth in his 500m K1 semi-final, and a place in the B final.

“I only missed out on making the final by 0,03 of a second,” said Rubenstein. “I finished behind Akos Vereskei in third and 0,3 of a second behind world champ Tim Brabants in second and just over a second behind winner Adam Van Koeverden, the Olympic champion.”

“I have learned some hard lessons this past weekend,” said Rubenstein. “I have now put my bad results behind me as I prepare for this weekend’s World Cup in Germany.”

Calvin Mokoto, the 19 year old Benoni C1 paddler who has also qualified for the Beijing games, continues to attract attention at international regattas as his form rapidly improves.

The Benoni youngster raced into the C2 semi-finals with fellow Gauteng paddler Radek Olszewski, and is thriving on the support he enjoys as the only African C-boat paddler at major international regattas.

The Duisburg World Cup, which is being widely regarded as a dress rehearsal for August’s Olympics, gets under way on Friday, and ends on Sunday.