Fresh from their Euros just three weeks ago, Britain’s junior and U23 canoe sprint teams are back on the water in Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal for the World Championships.
Kristina Armstrong (SPS) will be taking on the K1 200m as well as the K1 500m. With eyes firmly set on the podium after she qualified for the 500m A Final at the Euros, and narrowly missed out on a medal.
Neither the U23, nor junior women’s teams feature in the K4, however Lucy Guest (Nottingham) will be competing in the K1 1000m.
Gabriel Popham-Covely (Nottingham) leads the U23 men’s team in both K1 200m, and K1 1000m. The latter event recently saw him appear in an A Final.
He will also be teaming up with Guest in the K1 5K relay which will take place on Sunday.
Richmond duo Nelson Kinzler and Dylan O’Connor, will be racing the K2 500m, before O’Connor later joins Tom Holland (Weymouth), Xavier Hinves (Southampton), and Benji Cabrera (Fowey) for the K4 500m.
A team which also reached their A Final during the recent European Championships.
In the junior category, Dianora De Bilio (Royal) heads the team in the K1 200m and will also be looking to upgrade her position after her strong second-place finish in the K1 500m B Final.
Annie Bates (Richmond) returns in the junior K1 1000m. Her recent success winning her semi-final and subsequent A Final appearance confirming her place in the team.
She will also race the K1 5K relay with teammate Tom Hatton (Richmond) who takes on the K1 1000m for the men’s team.
Also in the junior team, Isaac Aveson (Richmond) will compete in the K1 200m.
Olivier Mazur (Reading) headlines the men’s K1 500m and will also join forces with Hatton, Sam Dickson (Falcon), and Freddie Heard (Exeter) in the K4.
The team narrowly missed bronze at the Euros and will definitely be one to watch.
Team Manager James Train praised the team’s application and highlighted the importance of racing at this level for the athletes’ development.
He’ll be looking to take the team one step further during the World Championships.
Wednesday will be dedicated to heats, while Thursday will feature semi-finals along with the remaining heats before the finals take place over the weekend.
The schedule and live results can be found here.
Or to watch the racing, the livestreaming will be available for members on the Planet Canoe YouTube channel.