Eight A finals were secured on the opening day of the ICF sprint and paracanoe World Cup in Poznan, Poland.
It was a successful start for the Brits, with five of the record-breaking paracanoe team qualifying direct to the weekend finals, whilst the women’s K4 500m crew impressed in their first semi-final to take their place in tomorrow’s A Final
Making history at Paris 2024, being the first woman to become double Paralympic Champion in paracanoe, Charlotte Henshaw MBE dominated her heats in both the women’s KL2 and VL3 to occupy places in both A Finals across the weekend.
There was an excellent performance from Laura Sugar in the women’s KL3 heats too, as she hit the international waters for the first time since winning her second Paralympic title in the French capital last year. She won automatic qualification to the A Final after finishing first in her heat.
Paralympic VL3 silver medallist Hope Gordon also secured A Final spots in both her events, finishing second in the VL3 heat and third in the KL3 heats to qualify direct through.
Taking on his first race since winning Paralympic silver in Paris, Dave Phillipson stormed his men KL2 heat to take a place direct in the A Final this weekend.
A similar feat was achieved by Tokyo 2020 bronze medallist Stu Wood, who powered to victory in the men’s VL3 heats to directly qualify for the final.
Jon Tarrant (Royal Leamington Spa) progressed safely through his men’s KL3 heat after finishing second, as did Ed Clifton (Chelmsford), who also finished second in his men’s VL2 heat.
As part of head coach Ekaitz Saies’ development strategy, a new women’s K4 combination of Emily Lewis (Worcester) / Debs Kerr (Anker Valley) / Kristina Armstrong (Scottish Performance Squad) / Lucy Lee-Smith (Norwich) produced an excellent semi-final, finishing third to qualify for the A final.
Debs returned for the afternoon to take on the K1 500m heats, easing through in second place to contest the semi-finals tomorrow. She will be joined by teammate Emma Russell (Chelmsford), who secured a fifth place in her heat to progress.
Zoe Clark (Royal) was just 0.21 seconds off her first senior A final, as she finished fourth in the semi-finals of the women’s K1 1000m, therefore taking her place in tomorrow’s B Final.
Tom Lambert (Lincoln) will contest the men’s canoe 500m B Final after progressing through the semi-finals this afternoon. He will also be in the C1 1000m semi-final action, finishing fourth in his heat.
Beth Gill (Nottingham) and Afton Fitzhenry (Belfast) both made their way through the women’s C1 500m heats, finishing fourth and seventh in their respective races to take a semi-final spot.
Dan Johnson (Nottingham) made it through his men’s K1 1000m heat after finishing second with a strong performance, whilst Phil Miles (Royal Leamington Spa) finished eighth in his heat, missing out on a semi-final place.
Live results can be followed here and all the action can be watched on the Planet Canoe YouTube
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