DAY 3 — Sunday August 2 — MORNING REPORT

500m Finals
MC2 - starting in lane #1 Ian Ross and Ben Hefner battle a strong crosswind in the first 250m and a changed rights tail in the last 250m. To compound the steerimg issues caused by a massive wind that simply increased as it crossed from lane 9, the crew from Canada occupied lane 2 and went on to win giving Ian and Ben wash to deal with.
But it is the spirit of this crew that makes them better each time - they just dealt with it unlike Brazil that simply "shut it down" - Ian and Ben finished 8th in 1:58.861 - Canada 1st in 1:49.313. It was a gutty effort from 2 lads that just want to paddle canoe - they have left their mark - with another year in Junior Ian and Ben are just now getting a taste of the World scene.
WK2 - 8th - this was an exciting finish - from 5th to 8th the difference is 1:55.189 to 1:56.086
Chelsea Smith will now try to duplicate the feat of Katy Hill - she will try to come back to the Junior Worlds in 2011 in Lithuania - Chelsea is the only athlete eligible from this team. Hopefully injuries that hampered their training after a promising time of 1:51.84 set in Lake Placid will be treated and allow them to comeback strong in 2010 as they both will be eligible for the European tour.
1st place was Australia in 1:50.775; 2nd Spain 1:52.194; 3rd Belarus 1:52.252
But the best performance of the 2009 Junior Worlds goes to the WK4 of Cannie Ash / Morgan Smith / Giulia Anderson / Katelyn Dill - what an exciting effort - proving to all that their 1:42 in Lake Placid was no fluke they roared down the course to repeat that time - 1:42.257 and capture second place in the B Final.
Each one of these girls brings a special element to the boat - Cannie the stroke is fearless and has a nose for the finish line.
Morgan is one tough customer and will fight through anything to get what she wants.
Giulia is their leader - a natural in that role if I have seen one - she has a terrific feel for the water and will push that boat "up" all on her own - she definitely is the power in the boat
Katelyn is a racer - she adapted her technique and proved that she is very coachable and lifted her contribution to the boat
They now own the new standard for all Junior K4 women to attain in the US.
I saw in 2007 that this was a race that we could make a dent in the short term - thank you girls for an exciting and as you saw at Boat Control an emotional experience for a coach that has seen a lot of terrific performances over the years.

Well that's it from Moscow - the last anthem is being played and the team will gather shortly for our final dinner on a beautiful night in Russia for all who love paddling. We have made many new friends and have represented the USA with pride.

We have demonstrated to all that we stand for more than on water performances - we are terrific ambassadors of the United States of America and proud to have our flag draping our boathouse in Moscow at the 2009 Junior World Championships.