Sprint Worlds Day Two Recap

POZNAN, Poland -- Team USA’s first medal of the 2010 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships was in Para-Canoe. Tami Hetke (Boulder Creek, Calif.), won the silver medal in the Women’s LTA V-1 200m event on Friday.

If there was only just a few more feet of course left Hetke would of easily grabbed the gold, said Para-Canoe Coach Deb Page, referring to Hetke’s strong surge to finish the race.

Earlier in the day, Hetke competed in the K-1 class for only the second time in her life. The first time was only the day before. One more competitor was needed in the class to make it a full medal event and when volunteers were requested, Hetke stepped to the plate.

Greg Crouse and Rob Brown (Moncks Corner, S.C.) were narrowly edged out of their Final while Vadim Kin placed sixth in the K-1 A 200m final. In a close race, Ashley Thomas placed 4^th in her first ever race at a World Championship.

In a stark contrast to the day before, blue skies with very little wind covered the course. Morgan House (Gainesville, Ga.) led the U.S. National Team in one of the first kayak races of the day, placing fourth in his heat but faded to ninth in the afternoon semifinal for K-1 500m.

Two-time Olympian Carrie Johnson (San Diego, Calif.) and Krisztina Zur finished the first heat easily cruising into third place of the K-2 500m. During the afternoon semi-final the team finished in fourth and will qualify for the Final B race this weekend.

The Women’s K-4 500m team of Johnson, Maggie Hogan (San Diego, Calif.), Emily Vinson (Gainesville, Ga.) and Ariel Farrar-Wellman qualified through to the semi’s but were not able to get things going in the race and faded to ninth.

Day 3 (Saturday) Preview:

This year marks the first season since the 200m race was added to the Olympic program. Another first is that the Women in Canoe C-1 200m event will be a full medal event Saturday. Top U.S. participant Anna Crawford is ready to go after spending the last week in an ICF Training Camp for Women in Canoe.

Tim Hornsby (Atlanta, Ga.) will race in his first event at the World Championships in the K-1 200m, while Krisztina Zur as well as Ryan and Patrick Dolan (Kailua, Hawaii) will race in their second events in the K-1 200m and K-2 200m, respectively.

“The 200m events are always some of the most fun events to watch for spectators and to compete in for paddlers,” said USA Canoe/Kayak National Teams Director William Irving. “The U.S. has had success at this distance in years past and now that they are official Olympic events, I expect for there to be some tough competition tomorrow.”

USA Canoe/Kayak is a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee and the International Canoe Federation. It governs the Olympic disciplines of Flatwater Sprint and Whitewater Slalom and sanctions Freestyle, Marathon, Outrigger, Wildwater, Kayak Polo, Dragon Boat and Canoe Sailing in the United States. For more information about USA Canoe/Kayak, please visit us on the web at www.usack.org.