2009 Sprint World Championships Recap

The USA Canoe/Kayak national team traveled to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada to compete at the 2009 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships from August 13-16,2009.  Twenty-seven athletes from TeamUSA paddled against teams from 65 other countries.

The event was marked by the inclusion of several new events as the ICF continues to become more equal in the opportunities offered to women and Paralympic athletes. Women’s canoe races were held for the first time at a World Championship event and TeamUSA had a strong showing in these exhibition races.

Hannah Menke finished 2nd in both the 200m & 500m C1 races. The C2 team of Pam Boteler and Anna Crawford finished 5th and 6th in the 500m and 200m races, respectively.

The USA PaddleAbility team showed the world that paddling and Paralympics are a natural fit and took some giant steps toward the inclusion of paddling on the Paralympic program in 2016. The team collected three podium spots over the weekend, highlighted by a gold medal performance by Augusto “Goose” Perez and Tami Hetke in the C2 200m. Mark Dunford and Rebecca Lloyd placed 2nd in the K2 200m and Robert Brown won a bronze medal for his K1 200m race.

Head Coach Nathan Luce had hopes that this event would be a great learning experience for a young TeamUSA. “The average age of our athletes is 21,” said Luce, “while the average age for perennial medal winning teams is closer to 28 or 29 years old.” The team showed a lot of promise over the weekend and their performances reinforced Luce’s belief that there is a bright future for these relatively young paddlers.

The weekend was full of strong racing by TeamUSA that earned a multitude of semi-final berths. Maggie Hogan finished 3rd in the B Final of the K1 1000m, Robert Finlayson advanced to the B Final in the C1 200m race and Yariel Rodriquez earned a spot in the B Final in the C1 1000m. Morgan House advanced to the C Final in the K1 1000m

Tim Hornsby won the C Final for the K1 200m. He had been anxiously awaiting the news of the inclusion of 200m races on the Olympic program and is excited about the possibilities for his future in the short sprint races. His early success would indicate that the prospects for Tim are indeed bright.

Both the men’s and women’s K4 and K2 teams made a strong showing and further proved Coach Luce’s conviction that his young team has the opportunity to see great success at future international paddling events if they remain dedicated.

The sunny weekend in Dartmouth was very encouraging for the future of USA Canoe/Kayak and has everyone on the team excited to work towards the 2010 World Championships in Poznan, Poland.

For full results from the 2009 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, please visit the event website here: http://www.canoe09.ca/

The Finals from Day 1 and 2 will be broadcast on the NBC owned channel Universal Sports from 12-2pm on Saturday, August 22 and Sunday the 23rd, 2009.