Austrian Corinna Kuhnle has commenced her 2016 campaign in style with an emphatic victory in the women’s K1 final at the Australian Open.
The two-time K1 world champion produced the perfect run in the final to finish more than five seconds ahead of German Ricarda Funk in 98.33.
Veronika Vojtova of the Czech Republic finished third in 104.90.
“I am obviously really happy with the win and how I raced today. It was a nice race and it is always a great competition here,” Kuhnle said.
Simplicity was the secret to Kuhnle’s success in today’s final.
“I was just talking to my coach actually and he was just saying that I was just paddling and not doing anything special and I think that attributed to my success today.”
Kuhnle will now switch her focus to preparing for the Austrian national selection events in April with Olympic selections to follow at the Europeans and the first World Cup in May.
Rio bound Benus wins C1 title
Matej Benus produced a polished performance to win the men’s C1 Australian Open title in Penrith today.
The world number four executed a clean run of 94.32 to finish 3.31 seconds ahead of Lukan Rohas of the Czech Republic.
Fellow Czech Stanislav Jezek rounded out the podium in third, just 0.12 seconds further back.
“I had a very good semi-final and final so I am very happy,” Benus said.
Skantar cousins win thrilling C2 final
Skantar cousins, Ladislav and Peter won a thrilling men’s C2 final at the Australian Open today.
Just 0.01 seconds separated the top two boats in the final with the Slovakian’s coming out on top in 103.09.
Italian pair Pietro Camporesi and Niccolo Ferrari were the runners-up ahead of Frenchman Pierre-Antione Tillard and Edern Le Ruyet.
“We have been working really hard in preparation for this event so to get a victory today is pleasing,” Peter said.
Kaspar and Kristian Fiebig were the best performed Australian pair finishing 18th in the semi-final.
Fox and Burrows score highest in selection battle
Jessica Fox and Ian Borrows have taken out the first Olympic selection trials at the Australian Open at Penrith Whitewater Stadium
Fox got her semi-final run off to a flying start with a strong upper section but got caught out a little further down the course at gates 17 and 18 to miss out on a place in the women’s K1 semi-final in 13th.
The London Olympic silver medallist finished less than a second ahead of her sister, Noemie Fox, who now looks set to rival her for a place in Rio.
“It is great to see her progress so much as well, we raced a World Cup last year in Krakow and she made the final and it was so special to share that with her so I am really happy for her to have claimed two seconds in senior selection and a second in Olympic selection so she will be happy with that,” Fox said.
Fox has learnt plenty from today’s performance which she will be looking to take into the Oceania Championships in a fortnight’s time.
“I think it is about doing the simple things well and keeping it solid and making sure to get the lines because what caught me out today was cutting it to tight and I didn’t need to do that as I had enough margin in my run where I felt quite good and I should have just kept it safe.”
Like Fox, Borrows also won his first selection trial with a 12th place finish in the men’s C1 semi-final ahead of Kynan Maley and Robin Jeffery.
Borrows raw time would have placed him in the final but a gate touch relegated him outside the top 10.
Borrows was pleased with his performance, particularly after recovering from a mistake on the lower section of the course.
“I got lucky at the end there to sneak in front of Kynan and Robbie Jeffery to get the win, it puts me in a good place for the Oceania’s in a couple of weeks. Now they have to beat me so I can now relax and try to ease into the race a little more,” Borrows said.
Selection puzzle
For Australia’s C1 men, securing a place in the Olympic team is a far trickier situation than those chasing a K1 berth.
At last year’s World Championships, Australia’s C1 men failed to secure an Olympic quota but will get a chance to do exactly that at the Oceania Championships which will follow the Australian Open in Penrith from the 19 to 21 February.
Assuming our men are successful in securing a C1 quota, the selection process will work exactly the same as the other disciplines, with selection trial one to take place at the Australian Open.
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