Words by Kimberley Woods.
The Junior C1 women claimed silver in today’s team events, a valiant effort from Zoe Blythe-Shields, Darcey McMullins and Jasmine Wilde. McMullins fought hard to paddle back for gate 12 and kept composure to catch up and sprint to the finish to claim the GB’s only medal of the day.
“It feels really good and I’m glad that I could do it with these girls and I’m happy that I put 2 good runs in today, with my individual this morning and the team run,” said Blythe-Shields.
“Great to have a medal coming out of my first world championships and I can’t wait to get more in the future,” said Wilde.
“To be doing it again with these girls feels amazing and putting down a solid team run which enabled us to get a silver medal,” concluded McMullins.
The Czechs once again showed their dominance by winning the C1W by almost 20 seconds.
The U23’s C1M team was led by Luc Royle, Ed McDonald and Phillip Smith and they felt they had the team elements correct within the run in terms of crossovers and spacing.
However the shallow waters claimed another victim in Smith and he caught his blade and flipped coming out of 16. They fought hard and it was enough for 6th place today, 2 places higher than they finished last year.
Talu Aysan, Leo Miller and Lewis Arden concluded today’s racing with the junior canoe men’s teams, giving it their all. With 60 seconds worth of penalties, it wasn’t their day for a medal but we will see Miller and Arden back in action in Friday’s junior semi-finals.
Sadie Sterry and Ellis Miller were up first this morning in the women’s canoe, Sadie was off early and her time of 120 including six seconds worth of penalties was enough to qualify for Fridays semi-finals in 22nd.
The course proved even trickier in canoe than the kayaks yesterday, seeing Ellis Miller having to paddle back for gate 12, however she had a lot of speed elsewhere on the course qualifying her in 25th place.
In the C1M Luc Royle put in an exceptional fast clean run with a time of 91.34 with one of the French favourites Mewen Debliquy, being the only paddler able to go ahead by 0.59 leaving Royle in 2nd place.
“Happy with my performance in the heats, always more time in it but pleased to put down a solid, clean run.
“I’m excited for the semis and hopefully the final on Friday! As for teams, not our day today, we each had a penalty and some errors, but we win and lose together,” says Royle.
Ed McDonald earned his place to join Royle into Friday’s semi-final in 27th place with a respectable clean run.
Phillip Smith had plenty of pace for the semi-final, however he unfortunately picked up a 50 second penalty on the up right gate six leaving him out of the qualifying spots in 55th.
Lee Valley based athletes Zoe Blythe-Shields and Darcey McMullins, finished close together in seventh and eighth despite picking up penalties, with Jasmine Wilde, one of GB’s debutants, also making it through comfortably in 19th place.
We also saw Lewis Arden and Leo Miller both picking up four seconds of penalties with Arden finishing in 13th place and Miller in 24th.
Sadly, Talu Aysan struggled in the middle part of the course having to circle back around for the spin on gate 12, losing valuable time and then picking up further penalties resulting in him finishing in 54th place.
Thursday and Friday will see the semi-finalists compete for places into the finals and the medal spots.
Day 2 Round Up
U23
C1W
Sadie Sterry 22nd through to SF
Ellis Miller 25th through to SF
C1M
Luc Royle 2nd through to SF
Ed McDonald 27th through to SF
Phillip Smith 55th
Junior
C1W
Zoe Blythe-Shields 7th through to SF
Darcey McMullins 8th through to SF
Jasmine Wilde 19th through to SF
C1M
Lewis Arden 13th through to SF
Leo Miller 24th through to SF
Talu Aysan 54th
Teams
Junior C1W SILVER
Junior C1M 14th
U23 C1M 6th
Racing continues tomorrow with the K1’s starting at 9:10 (CET).
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