Words by Kimberley Woods
Day four of the Junior and U23 World Championships brought a lot of penalties and paddle backs, but also great runs. The course seemed to be a lot harder in canoe compared to kayak.
Zoe Blythe-Shields was GB’s only junior finalist this afternoon. She made the final with 12 seconds worth of penalties and lot to improve on for the final.
She came down and had an amazing run with a time of 112.11 including a two second penalty. A time that would have beaten the semifinal winning time. She had a nervous wait to see if it was enough for a medal.
She was sitting in the bronze medal position with one person to go, and that person was the 2024 Junior Worlds bronze medalist. Early on in her run the Czech picked up a 50 second penalty meaning Blythe-Shields had earnt herself a medal.
“It feels great to be a bronze medalist in my final year, finally! I’ve been waiting for a very long time.
“We didn’t have very long between our semi and final. Sitting down with my coach (Luke Smyth), going through it and believing in myself that I could do a clean run.”
When asked about having her sister (Joanna Blythe-Shields), who had to pull out of the race due to an injury, and her family here she said “I think my sister is my biggest supporter so seeing her I definitely got a bit emotional straight away but I’m really glad that they’re all here”.
The last time GB had a junior canoe women’s world championship medal is going back 13 years, when it was Mallory Franklin in Silver and myself (Kimberley Woods) in Bronze in 2012.
The U23 team had three finals today. Starting us off this morning was Ellis Miller in the U23 women’s canoe. She did a great job getting into the final and the final was a hot race! Miller’s final time was only just 0.04 slower than the semifinal winning time. However the girls were on fire in the finals.
“Today felt the best I’ve raced all season. I knew there was time in my semis run and after reviewing and making some changes I felt ready for the final.
“Falling low in gate 16 lost me some time and in a final with some an amazing boats it wasn’t enough today.
“It wasn’t what I wanted in my last year of under 23, nor my full capability but I am proud of my performance regardless” said Miller.
Today’s winner was Evy Leibfarth from the USA with a clean run of 100.45, with Slovakia’s Zuzanna Pankova in 2nd (100.78) and Slovenia’s Eva Alina Hocevar in 3rd (102.57) both having penalties.
In the U23 canoe men, GB’s sole representative in the final was senior team member Luc Royle. His final run was strong with a time of 96.60, including a two second penalty. It wasn’t enough for a medal, but still a strong performance in a very strong class. He finished in 10th place.
The podium saw Lukas Kratochvil (CZE) take the gold, New Zealand’s Oliver Puchner take silver and Spain’s Alex Segura taking the bronze.
In the junior canoe men, unfortunately both Leo Miller and Lewis Arden picked up six seconds worth of penalties meaning they did not progress to the finals, finishing 19th and 20th. Their speed however was quick enough to make the final, therefore they should definitely take some confidence knowing they are fast enough.
Darcey McMullins and Jasmine Wilde both gave it their all. Wilde sadly picked up 158 seconds worth of penalties finishing in 30th place. McMullins didn’t give up all the way down the course showing a lot of character by having three long paddling backs and refused to back down finishing in 26th place.
One of GB’s debutants Sadie Sterry got into a little trouble on the difficult course. There are a lot of technical and tactical decisions to make in C1, making it hard to go clean. Only three athletes managed to go clean in the semi final. Sterry picked up 12 seconds worth of penalties placing her in 24th place in her first year of U23.
Ed McDonald also struggled to keep the pace here in Foix placing in 27th place, just seven seconds off the final. It was rather tight racing with less than five seconds within the top 12.
Day 4 Round Up
C1W U23
Ellis Miller 6th
Sadie Sterry 24th
C1M U23
Luc Royle 10th
Ed McDonald 27th
C1W Junior
Zoe Blythe-Shields BRONZE
Darcey McMullins 26th
Jasmine Wilde 30th
C1M Junior
Leo Miller 19th
Lewis Arden 20th
Tomorrows racing is the start of the Kayak Cross with the Individual Time Trial starting at 11:45 (CET)
Live results can be found here
Live Feed on YouTube (as a Plant Canoe member) here