Britain’s slalom and polo athletes were amongst the medals as a number of paddling disciplines came together over the weekend to compete in the 2024 International Canoe Federation Hangzhou Super Cup.
The competition brought together athletes from across slalom, sprint, polo and marathon, with competitors invited to China, all vying for the Super Cup titles.
Three days of slalom brought five medals for the team as Paris 2024 Olympians, Kimberley Woods (Rugby), Adam Burgess (Stafford & Stone), Mallory Franklin (Windsor & District) and Joe Clarke (Stafford & Stone) were competing in Hangzhou, alongside Ryan Westley (Lower Wharfe) and Jonny Dickson (CR Cats).
It was Westley who got the medal haul underway for Britain as the 2023 European Champion won gold in the men’s canoe classic slalom on Friday.
Easing into the top 12 from the heats, Westley stormed down the course to post a clean time 84.43 and go top ahead of Olympic Champion Nicholas Gestin.
Guaranteed a medal with two to go, Matej Benus and Raffaello Ivaldi couldn’t match Westley’s time to confirm gold.
He said:
“I was not racing in the Olympics, so I’ve had quite a nice year, a lot less busy than a lot of people.
“I think that has been good for me and I’m probably a lot fresher than Nico is this time of the year, but yeah, it was hard,”
That medal was swiftly followed by Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Mallory Franklin, who won her first of two medals across the weekend in the women’s canoe.
Searching for further international success after ending the World Cup series with double gold in the kayak cross, Franklin went top by over two seconds in the final after setting a time of 94.26.
With a wait to see where she would rank, only Czechia’s Gabriela Satkova could beat the two-time World Champion’s time, confirming Franklin with a silver.
Winning World Cups 4 and 5 in the kayak cross, Franklin continued her end-of-season form in the new Olympic discipline by winning bronze on the final day of competition.
A tough start off the ramp saw the Windsor & District athlete sit fourth heading into the early gates. But a strong first up saw her leapfrog Evy Leibfath into third.
The pair tussled throughout the final but an excellent second up from Franklin confirmed her place on the podium.
Double Olympic bronze medallist Kimberley Woods was back in the medals once again as she secured a bronze in the first-ever women’s canoe short slalom.
Contesting the slightly shorter format to the Olympic event, Woods flew down the tricky setup to post 57.97 which was the quickest raw time of the day.
She did pick up a two-second penalty as she navigated the course in what resulted in an incredibly tight final.
0.03 separated the podium as Majorie Delassus and Monica Doria Vilarrubla finished on the exact same of 57.94, with Woods’ overall time securing her the bronze medal.
Fresh from his Olympic silver medal in Paris, Adam Burgess rounded off the medal success with bronze in the men’s canoe short slalom.
It was another tight final, with the top three separated by just 0.28 seconds.
Burgess comfortably progressed through the heats in sixth place, before posting his time of 50.86 to slot in just behind Luka Bozic in second place.
After a long wait to see where he’d stack up, only Olympic Champion Gestin could challenge the 32-year-old’s time as he sat between Burgess and Bozic, pushing the Brit down to the bronze medal.
Two-time Olympic medallist Joe Clarke contested both kayak slalom events as well as the kayak cross. He placed 8th in both slalom events with penalties knocking him down the standings on both occasions.
Dickson’s highest finish was seventh in the short slalom, finishing just ahead of this British teammate, whilst he sadly fell at the quarter-final stages of the kayak cross.
Elsewhere, there was success for both of GB’s men’s and women’s senior canoe polo teams as they prepared for the upcoming World Championships which gets underway tomorrow.
The women’s team came away with a fantastic silver medal after a tense final.
Starting with a strong opening 2-1 victory over Japan, the team secured knockout victories against Italy (3-0) and New Zealand (6-5) before coming up against Spain in the final.
Spain took the lead early in the first half before a fantastic finish from Sara Lanao-Madden leveled things up from a tight angle.
The Spanish side regained the lead through a penalty just before half-time, whilst they extended their advantage midway through the second half to make it 3-1.
The British team put up a great fight in the dying minutes, with a second from Lanao-Madden making it 3-2 with just over two minutes left to play, setting up a tense finish.
The Brits had chances but just couldn’t find that equaliser, meaning they head into the World Champs this week as silver medallists.
Speaking after the ceremony, Eleanor McBay said:
“It was a great event. The venue was spectacular and it was brilliant to be at an event with athletes from different disciplines too.
Georgie Longbottom added:
“For us, it was a different kind of competition to approach so we went in with the mindset of just wanting to enjoy the experience.
“We’re made up to come away with a medal.
“We’ve got Germany, Denmark, Australia and China in our World Championships group. We’ve played Germany and Denmark recently at the ECA Cup but we’ve got a good experience coming up.”
The men started their campaign with a 5-2 defeat to New Zealand, but really turned it around in the latter stages of the competition to claim a brilliant bronze ahead of the World Championships.
Victories against Chinese Taipei (6-2) and Japan (5-4) set them up for a semi-final match up against Spain. Sadly for the Brits they were the wrong side of a 3-2 finish meaning they matched up against New Zealand again to play for bronze.
The Brits more than made up for their earlier defeat as they won with an emphatic 6-0 scoreline.
Santanman McCutcheon opened the scoring early in the first half before his brother Shivan doubled their lead.
A great breakaway from Britain saw Santanman get his second of match just before half-time with a great lob.
Fergal McConvey got on the scoresheet before Santanman increased his goal tally to four for the game to make it 6-0 and secure the bronze medal.
Suryan McCutcheon said:
“It was fantastic to win the bronze, and a great way to round off the weekend. It’s something to build on for the World Championships for sure.
“We lost to New Zealand in the first game so was great to right that wrong in the bronze medal match.
“We put some really good performances in.”
Lewis Hammond added:
“Working out some of the kinks in the tactics is something we will look at between now and making sure we get some good rest in before the World Championships.”
The World Championships get underway tomorrow which you can follow throughout the week at Planet Canoe.
Lewis Fletcher was also out representing Great Britain as he battled in the sprint competition.
In men’s K1 500m action, Fletcher progressed through heat 3 in fourth with a time of 1:49.523 which set him up for a place in the B Final.
In tougher conditions, the Scottish athlete raced hard in the B Final, with his time of 2:00.798 seeing him place seventh and 15th overall at the competition.
A full round up of results from across the weekend can be found here