After brilliant K1 performances yesterday, Joe Enoch (Nottingham) and William Short (Elmbridge) joined forces to take home silver in the junior men’s K2.
Spectacular from the start the junior duo took off against a high calibre field. They secured a strong position in the opening stretch and fought to keep the pace of the group high.
A rogue move from a Spanish crew pushed the Brits towards the back of the group.
As the group spread out around the first turn they looked to be falling off the back of the lead group but managed to claw back up by choosing wise positioning. Clinging to the bank to avoid the full strength of the downstream current they made it back in touch with the lead group.
Another insightful move from the juniors saw them go wide into the first turn to avoid collision. It set them back slightly, but the Hungarian duo were there with them and gave them a ride back up to the leaders.
The Nottingham, Elmbridge duo had a clean first portage and we’re fourth back in the water.
The Spanish team upped the pace into lap three and Brits stayed in touch to cruise into the v wash of the lead group of four. The pace then dropped causing the group to reform into a six.
Joe and Will were leading the race down into the second portage. They were in a great position for a quick run and were the second boat back in behind the Spaniards.
Forming a lead group of three crews in lap four they stretched out the distance to the chasers and had a medal finish in sight.
The Portuguese went out hard on the get in of portage three. Spain and Great Britain successfully pushed to stay in contact with them.
Lap five saw Spain drop back, leaving Enoch and Short in the top two with the Portugues.
The Brits were dropped by Sousa and Batista after the penultimate portage and it was a nail biting final stage as Spain hunted down the Brits for the silver medal position.
The duo held strong and powered across the line second to claim their first ever international marathon medals. Second best in the world and a silver medal to show for it.
They completed the 22.6km course in 1:29:35.
Reflecting on their race Joe and Will said: “The race started off really well, though we made a bit of an error at the first turn so we had to play catch-up early on.
“One key move for us was going wide around the second turn, which we had practised a lot beforehand. It was different from what the other teams were doing, but it paid off, giving us a lift right back into the pack.
“The Portuguese boat got away from us at the portage, so for the last 6 kilometres, we were solo. It was a tough chase to the finish, but we managed to hold on and finish strong.”
The senior women’s K2 was next up in today’s race schedule.
After her brilliant fourth place finish in the U23 K1 long course, Greta Roeser (Wey) joined forces with club mate Fay Lamph.
They got away well off the start line and clung to the back washes of the lead group that formed.
Not quite making it into the lead group they powered around lap one in a chase group of three trying to make up distance lost.
The Wey team came into the first portage alongside the Danish crew of Andersen and Hansen.
The two crews worked together in a chasing duo throughout the majority of the seven lap race.
At the front of the race the Hungarian’s dropped the South African crew in the final long lap to confirm the gold.
The Brits were neck and neck with the Danish for eighth place until the final small lap that saw the Danes up the pace.
A sprint for the finish confirmed the 9th place for Greta and Fay. A great top 10 result for the pair. They completed the 26.2km course in 1:57:38.
Matt Collinge (Fowey) and Matt Johnson (Chelmsford) teamed up for the senior men’s K2. They were joined by Norwich duo James How and Tim Dowden, a high octane start.
The Portuguese of Pimenta and Ramalho led out fast and Collinge and Johnson comfortably made it into the lead group and sat on the fifth.
It was an unsettling start with plenty of movement within the group around lap one. The group stretched out after the first turn and the Norwich team formed a chase group with those who dropped off the lead group.
Matt and Matt managed to keep contact with the fast pace of the leaders. They dropped slightly during lap two but rejoined the leaders in the run down to the first portage.
A big group came into the portage, but the Fowey, Chelmsford crew did well to keep their transitions clean.
James and Tim had to empty water from their boat on their first portage which caused them to drop back in the field.
The lead group started to split in lap three, resulting in Johnson and Collinge forming a chase group.
They joined forces with the French crew of Geniesse and Carre and the Hungarian’s Noe and Kulifai to power around the remaining laps.
The French broke away from the group ahead of the final small lap to claim 7th.
The Brits fought hard all the way to the line but couldn’t quite keep pace with the Hungarian sprint finish.
They claimed 9th best in the world over 29.8km in 1:58:03.
Cruising around the course in the mid-field The Norwich crew had a dedicated race that saw them finish in 17th with a time of 2:01:49.
That concludes the 2024 Marathon World Championships. You can catch up with all the action on the marathon news page of the Paddle UK website.
To discover more about marathon racing and to find out more about future races visit the Marathon Racing Committee website and social media page.