International Canoe Federation

Oceania’s Canoe Sprint athletes are making their first steps to London 2012, at the 2010 Oceania Open at the Sydney International Regatta Centre and Penrith Whitewater Stadium. Athletes from Australia, New Zealand, Guam, Cook Islands and Samoa have been joined by competitors from Italy, Japan and the US. Racing continues to Sunday. Among the stars in the competition are Beijing K1 500m Olympic gold medallist, Ken Wallace (AUS), 2006 K1 1000m World Champion and Olympic medallist, Ben Fouhy (NZL) and Hannah Davis (AUS) who won bronze in the K4 500m in Beijing.

Lesser-known athletes from the Pacific islands include 14-year-old Cassondra Santos from Guam, who will be competing internationally for the first time, having taken up the sport only a year ago. Also, Josh Utanga, 21, of the Cook Islands who the ICF first met at the 2009 Canoe Sprint World Championships in Dartmouth, Canada, will be competing in the Men’s K1.

The first day of the Open focused on the 200m events, which will be making its Olympic debut in London. In the Women’s K1 200m, Jo Bridgen-Jones (AUS) took the top spot in a time of 46.08s to pip her compatriot Hannah Davis who finished in 46.77s. Of the race, Bridgen-Jones said the event was good practice for the coming National and World Championships claiming, “It was a hard race with such a big headwind but I felt strong out there. It was a pretty tough field and definitely close between the competitors”. Davis’ second place was perhaps due to a bad start: "I am not very happy with the floating starting pontoon,” she said, “I missed the first few meters. There was a lot of wind out there and this is the main reason why it was hard to keep the kayak balanced."

In the U23 category of the Women’s K1 200m, Australia flocked the podium. Samantha Wood set the pace to take gold and beat Jennifer Stevens and Fiona Kidd, who took silver and bronze respectively. Another Australian, Gabriella Tobitt, also faced a battle against the breeze to win the U16 Women's K1 200m final.

In the Men’s 200m K1, Chris Alagich (AUS) fought fiercely against headwinds to claim first place. “It was a very hard race. We don’t usually get a strong headwind and it makes the race a lot harder and longer,” said Alagich, 32. Scott Bicknell snuck into second place in the tightly placed field. “It was a short race, 200 metres changes the race, and it becomes more challenging.”

Daniel Ross claimed the Men’s Under 16 years 200m kayak sprint in a closely contested race. “I felt pretty good, even if it was not the start I wanted. But I came back strong, back to my ability. The wind made it hard. I am pretty happy with the wind,” Ross said. Jordan Wood cruised into second place, he is hoping to follow in his mother Anna Wood's footsteps and compete at the Olympics. “I would like to win an Olympic gold medal one day,” he said.

In the Women’s K2 200m, the winning Australian duo made up of Jo Brigden-Jones and Shelley Oates-Wilding coasted to a comfortable win. They were first off the start pontoon and finished ahead of the Kiwi pair, Marianne Archer and Connie Richards. “We enjoyed a good start and that helped us to win the race,” Brigden-Jones claimed, “We haven't had too much time training together before this event so it’s nice to win.”

Meanwhile, Archer said her kayak started off well but suffered from a lapse midway through the race. “It was all right for us in the first part of the race, then we lost a bit of control 80m before the finish line,” she said. “We were more focused on following the pace”.

In the U18 category, Australians Alyce Burnett and Jacqueline Beaver snatched gold. “It’s good to get on this course because this is where the Nationals are and we’ll be competing there soon," Burnett said. She was enthusiastic about the 200m event, which is attracting more devotees because of its new Olympic status. “It’s basically an all-out sprint but in the 500m we have to employ more tactics,” she said. “We don’t really train that much so that was pretty good for us. We’re definitely training a bit more after this.”

In the Men’s K2 200m, New Zealanders Steven Ferguson and Scott Bicknell grabbed an away victory, not bad considering this was the first time the pair had drawn paddles together. “It’s good to get some race practice in and give the coaches a few new things to look at with different combinations,” Ferguson said. “We’re looking towards the New Zealand Nationals next and after that we’ll have the World Championships but the ultimate goal is the London Olympics. All steps are towards that at the moment.” Australians, Mario Vesely and Steve Burns crossed the line in second position despite a paddle mishap. “We had a good feeling but it could have been better. There was a false start and then I hit my paddle on the right side,” said Vesely.

In the U18 category, Joshua Crouch and Samuel Tom (AUS) flew to victory. “I'm feeling pretty good, it was only 200m so it didn't hurt much,” said Crouch. “We also do 500m, 1000m and 5km but I enjoy the 200m more because I get better results.” His partner, Samuel Tom, was just in awe of his paddling partner; “It’s the fast twitch fibres – he paddles like he thinks he’s a little firefly!”

Gearing up for the Men’s K1 500m final, the first day’s heats were a real spectacle as Ben Fouhy (NZL), holder of the World’s Best Time for the K1 1000m, showed his class in the 500m. Fouhy comfortably won his heat setting up what looks like the inevitable showdown with Australians Ken Wallace and Matthew Goble in Saturday afternoon’s final. “I felt good enough,” Fouhy said. “It was hard to know where to position myself within the race because the competitors all had different objectives. Some needed to finish 5th to qualify for the finals, some wanted to win.”

To find out how it goes on Saturday and in the other races over the whole weekend, keep an eye on www.oceania.canoe.org.au for the live Twitter feed, live results, footage and images.