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NEWS |
Szeged
– Bridgitte Hartley raced to arguably the biggest win of her career on Sunday
as she won gold in the showcase K1 500m Final at the Szeged World Cup in
Hungary. The 500m is the Olympic distance women’s event, meaning the win has
positioned Hartley perfectly to challenge for a medal in the London 2012
Olympic Games.
The A-Final featured the top women sprint kayakers in the world and a host of
Olympic medal winners. At the halfway mark, Beijing bronze medalist Katrin
Wagner-Augustin was a nose ahead of the South African, but Hartley pushed on
with her powerful kick to pip the German star by half a second on the finish
line, netting her second World Cup gold medal. Beijing silver medalist Josefa
Idem secured the bronze.
The gold completed a memorable weekend for Hartley at the ‘home’ of
international sprint kayaking, where she also enjoyed success in the K1 1000m
A-Final the day before. Having won her Friday heat to bypass the semi-finals
and secure the centre lane in the A-Final, she battled neck and neck with
Wagner-Augustin and New Zealand’s Erin Taylor to eventually win the bronze
medal – making it a hat-trick across the three World Cups. “The wind was
extremely strong in the afternoon but to my advantage I really enjoy racing
into a head wind. It was a bit too strong but nevertheless, the race was hard
but good,” said Hartley afterwards.
Hartley also made the A-Final in the K1 200m for the first time in her
international career, finishing in seventh place. Her form this year has been
nothing short of spectacular, and she will be closely watched by the sprint
community over the coming years.
National Men’s champion Shaun Rubenstein had a mixed weekend, where he was
knocked out in the semi-finals of the K1 1000m. However his promising K2
partnership with Mike Arthur provided the silver lining by surpassing all
expectations, except perhaps their own. The pair progressed through the heats
to qualify for Sunday’s A-Finals by winning the 200m semi-final and placing
third in the 500m semi-final. The 200m Final was a tight race with the top 7
positions separated by just over a second, but the South African crew had
enough power to claim a stunning silver medal. The Olympic distance K2 500m
event later on Sunday saw them narrowly miss out on a medal, finishing fourth
less than two seconds behind the winners. Considering this is the first time
the two have teamed up in an international regatta, they have set a high bar,
and the boat has a bright future.
The fledgling K2 partnership of Under-21 sprinters Cam Schoeman and Stu
Waterworth will also be pleased with their weekend activities, which was a big
improvement from the Poland World Cup two weeks prior. The two raced through
to their first A-Final, finishing ninth in the K2 1000m A-Final, and also
placed fifth in the 500m B-Final.
Nick Stubbs was troubled by a joint problem during the week and had to
withdraw from the regatta before the start, meaning Len Jenkins replaced him
in the K4 boat with Greg Louw, Nic Burden and Mike Arthur, which reached the
1000m A-Final.
Jenkins will be pleased to have made it through to the K1 1000m Semi-Finals,
where he finished 9th in the same race as Rubenstein. Burden and Louw both
progressed to the K1 500m and K1 200m semi-finals, but the extra step to
qualify for a Final was one too far. Carol Joyce was knocked out in the heats
of all three distances.
The squad will now begin preparations for the annual Sprint World
Championships, to be held this year in Dartmouth, Canada, from 12 to 16
August.
SA Highlights, Szeged World Cup
Women
K1 500m A-Final
K1 1000m A-Final
Men
K2 200m A-Final
K2 500m A-Final
Full results at www.kajakkenusport.hu/worldcup2009/en/
