 NZ's number 1 canoe slalom athlete Aaron Osborne, along with the NZ Canoe
Slalom Team, have just completed race
3, the final of the World Cup, in Augsburg, Germany.
Aaron had a "wicked" week in Augsburg, home of the bratwurst, beer and Alexander Grim
(2008 Olympic Champion). "Funnily enough
the cold and the wet brought out some excellent racing and huge crowds. The
Germans love their sports people."
The 1972 Olympic course was "beautiful" and "unique", as described by Aaron, "The course was rather
unique looking, and even more so to paddle on.
It was
‘tunnel like' with very inconsistent water levels. It was thought that this
inconsistent water may separate the men, however with only 1 run counting,
racing was very tight against top paddlers, in both the mens and the
womens division."
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"The New Zealand Juniors were amongst those competing and are
definitely showing improvements after their 3 different coaches this Summer. It
was their final race in the European balmy weather and they have now gone home with
some great achievements and stories under their belts."
Friday was qualification day in the World Cup ranking. Aaron Osborne showed good speed through
the top of the course but had trouble around gate 14, loosing valuable time and
picking up a 2 second penalty, finishing in 48th. Mike Dawson also
had a tough finishing in 39th out of 75. In the second runs, both the boys
pushed too hard and picked up 50 second penalties.
The girls both collected multiple
50s. Louise Jull finished 44th and Luuka Jones 47th out
of 4
The juniors raced to their potential with Cullum Gibb just
finishing outside the top 50, and Jane Nicholas finishing top Kiwi Girl in 42nd. The C2 crew finished in 25th
out of 27.
Saturday saw semi-finals for the mens K1. Something the Kiwi
men unfortunately didn't get to participate in after their disappointing
qualifications. However, Saturday was also the Boat-a-cross race or Boater X.
A
race between 4 creek boats paddling at the same time down the course, avoiding
inflatable obstacles, rocks, walls and of course other paddlers. A fun event
with lots of prizes, ended with an array of kayaking pressies to take away. Only two Kiwis entered with Louise Jull
finishing in 4th from 8 and
Mike Dawson finishing outside of the top 4 from 16 competitors.
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With all the World Cups completed, the Canoe Slalom World Cup
Series Rankings were posted. The new format provided interesting results. The
Kiwis benefiting from having a continental race count towards their rankings,
with the European Championships not qualifying for points.
In the Mens K1, out of 93 paddlers:
Mike Dawson 21st
Aaron Osborne 22nd
Johan Roozenburg 25th
Callum Gibb 65th
Female K1, out of 65 paddlers:
Luuka Jones 14th.
Jane Nicholas 22nd
The New Zealand team showed a lot of potential with very
fast split times sections, but fell short when it came putting the run together
on the day. The team is still very young and most canoe slalom athletes make
their first final around the age of 25.
Aaron spoke with Campbell Walsh (1st World Cup
Bratislava) about his career. He celebrated his 50th start in a
major event (World Championships or World Cups, 3 per year) and had completed
over 20 major races before making any final. From there on he has been a
dominant athlete in canoe slalom. What flicked the switch from average to world
champion? No one knows, but the Kiwi team will continue to try make that elusive
World Cup Medal.
Aaron Osborne and Mike Dawson are now in Prague for some serious training.
http://www.youtube.com/v/I0ILYjUgGG8&hl=en&fs=1&
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