The women’s K4 crew achieved a top-seven finish on their first international outing, whilst Zoe Clark won her B Final on day two of the ICF World Cup 2 in Poznan, Poland.
After a successful day one, the newly formed crew of Emily Lewis (Worcester) / Debs Kerr (Anker Valley) / Kristina Armstrong (Scottish Performance Squad) / Lucy Lee-Smith (Norwich) lined up in the K4 500m A Final for the first time.
It was a strong run performance from the quad as they powered to seventh place in 1:35.46, just two seconds off a podium place.
Delighted with their first international competition as a crew, Debs said:
“We had a really good race. It’s a great place to start. We’ve been in the boat a handful of times and we’ve gelled well together and really quickly. The boat felt solid. I was focusing on our race. Emily set a good rhythm and the girls in the back kept us pushing.
Emily added: “We learnt from each race this week. We took this as an opportunity to race without pressure and enjoy it.
Kristina said: “It’s my first K4 internationally. I’ve learnt a lot from this crew. Really enjoying being part of it and the final was definitely our best race so far.
Lucy concluded: “Debs and Emily have a lot of K4 experience, which has really paid off for me and Kristina. Every time we get in the boat, it feels better and better, and we’ve got something good we can build on here.”
Zoe Clark (Royal) also enjoyed a successful day after dominating the women’s K1 1000m B Final in 4:05.36.
Incredibly close to reaching the A Final yesterday, Zoe was second passing through the halfway point, before closing the gap and taking the lead in the final 200m to take the victory, over two seconds ahead.
She said: “I wanted to produce something similar to my semi-final performance, as I was happy with that.
“I went out hard, stuck to my plan of coming through the backend of the race. It feels nice to come through people towards the end.
“I was conscious I still had K2, but I gave everything to make sure I won the race, keeping the technique together.”
U23 European Champion Zoe combined later with K2 500m crewmate Kristina, with the duo winning gold last season. The pair continued their strong showings into the senior competition, qualifying for the semi-finals in fifth place.
Emily went on to join forces with Emma Russell (Chelmsford) as a K2 500m crew, with the pair also making their way through to the next stage after finishing fourth in their heat.
Emma and Debs were in action early on in the day for the women’s K1 500m as the pair found themselves in the same semi-final. The teammates will compete against each other again tomorrow in the B Final after finishing in fourth and sixth, respectively.
Tom Lambert (Lincoln) achieved a sixth-place finish in a tightly contested C1 men’s 500m B Final, finishing in 1:51.73. He also finished sixth in his C1 1000m semi-final to line up in a further B Final tomorrow morning.
Beth Gill (Nottingham) and Afton Fitzhenry (Belfast) will take on the women’s C1 500m B Final after progressing through the same semi-finals. Beth finished in fifth, with Afton just half a second behind in seventh.
The pair also contested their respective C1 200m heats in the afternoon, with Afton progressing to the semi-finals in 51.37 after finishing fifth in her heat, whilst Beth placed ninth in 50.79, meaning she didn’t progress.
Dan Johnson (Nottingham) will also be in B Final action tomorrow after making his way through the men’s K1 1000m semi-finals in sixth place.
Jon Tarrant (Royal Leamington Spa) ensured it was a full house of paracanoe athletes racing the A Finals this weekend, after navigating his way through the semi-finals with a strong second-place finish in the men’s KL3.
There were sixth-place finishes for Abi Burgess (Wey) and Lucy Lee-Smith in their respective women’s K1 200m heats, meaning they will both take on the semi-finals tomorrow.
Phil Miles (Royal Leamington Spa) was back in the boat for the men’s K1 500m heats, where he placed fourth and will contest the semi-finals tomorrow. He will be joined in the same semi-final as Tom Lusty (Solihull), who progressed through his heat in sixth, qualifying as the best time outside the top five.
The team will be back in action tomorrow as the K1 women’s 200m semi-finals get us underway.
Live results can be followed here and all the action can be watched on the Planet Canoe YouTube
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