Paris 2024 Paralympic medallists return to international action for the first time since their success last summer, as the sprint and paracanoe World Cup heads to Poznan this weekend.
A larger sprint squad will also be taking on the four-day ICF competition in Poland, following on from the opening World Cup in Szeged last weekend.
Making history in Paris after winning two Paralympic titles at one Games, Charlotte Henshaw MBE will return to action in the women’s KL2 and VL3.
Winning her second consecutive KL3 Paralympic title in the French capital, Laura Sugar MBE will also return to international racing for the first time this year.
Dave Phillipson and Hope Gordon are too both back in action after winning their first Paralympic medals in Paris with silver in the KL2 and VL3 respectively, whilst Ed Clifton (Chelmsford) will contest the VL2 after making his Games debut last summer.
Tokyo bronze medallist Stu Wood and Jon Tarrant (Royal Leamington Spa) complete the paracanoe squad racing the opening competition of the season in the men’s VL3 and KL3 respectively.
Three-time Paralympic gold medallist Emma Wiggs will sit this season out following a shoulder injury
A number of sprint athletes have travelled across to Poland from Hungary to race back to back World Cups.
Beth Gill (Nottingham), Phil Miles (Royal Leamington Spa), Dan Johnson (Nottingham), Abi Burgess (Wey) and Tom Lambert (Lincoln) will all be back to take on individual events over the weekend.
Emily Lewis (Worcester) and Lucy Lee-Smith (Norwich) are also back in action, and will be joined this week by Deborah Kerr (Anker Valley) and Kristina Armstrong (Scottish Performance Squad), with the quad making up the women’s K4 crew for the weekend.
Double U23 European Champion Kristina will be joined again by her gold medal crewmate Zoe Clark (Royal) in the women’s K2 500m, whilst Emily will be doubling up alongside Emma Russell (Nottingham) as another K2 crew.
Afton Fitzhenry (Belfast) and Tom Lusty (Solihull) complete the team, joining up with the squad for the first time this season to race the women’s C1 200m/500m and men’s K1 500m individually.
Racing starts Thursday 22 May, with Tom Lambert lining up first for the British team.
You can find all the results here
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World Cup 2 Team
Paracanoe Women’s
KL2 – Charlotte Henshaw
KL3 – Laura Sugar, Hope Gordon
VL3 – Charlotte Henshaw, Hope Gordon
Paracanoe Men’s
KL2 – Dave Phillipson
KL3 – Jon Tarrant
VL2 – Ed Clifton
VL3 – Stu Wood
Sprint Women’s
K1 200m – Abi Burgess (Wey) Lucy Lee-Smith (Norwich)
K1 500m – Emma Russell (Chelmsford), Debs Kerr (Anker Valley)
K2 500m – Emily Lewis (Worcester) / Emma Russell, Zoe Clark (Royal) / Kristina Armstrong (Scottish Performance Squad)
K4 500m – Emily Lewis / Debs Kerr / Kristina Armstrong / Lucy Lee-Smith
K1 1000m – Zoe Clark
K1 5000m – Zoe Clark
C1 200m – Beth Gill, Afton Fitzhenry
C1 500m – Beth Gill, Afton Fitzhenry
C1 5000m – Beth Gill
Sprint Men’s
K1 500m – Phil Miles (RLS) Tom Lusty (Solihull)
K1 1000m – Dan Johnson (Nottingham) Phil Miles
C1 500m – Tom Lambert (Lincoln)
C1 1000m – Tom Lambert