Team USA Wins Two B Finals in Poland

POZNAN, Poland -- Two-time Olympian Carrie Johnson (San Diego, Calif.) and Krisztina Zur (Newport Beach, Calif.) win Final B of the K-2 500m race. In a great race, the women took the race to their competitors and the others simply could not hang on to the pace of Johnson and Zur, who surged ahead in the final few meters of the race to win by 2.3 seconds over Spain.

“After a late start in the semifinal, the girl’s performance today was impressive and would have been a good result for the Final A,” said Coach Stein Jorgensen.

Anna Crawford finished strong as well, winning her Final B Women’s C-1 200m race. Crawford led the race from start to finish and really looked solid, holding to form as she crossed the finish line.

In a hard fought race in the Women’s C-2 500m exhibition event, Pam Boteler and Itzel Reza Flores took fourth in a hard fought race with the final 3 boats.

After competing in the K-2 500m, Zur quickly changed boats and finished fifth in her Final B race.

Brothers Patrick and Ryan Dolan (Kailua, Hawaii) finished seventh in their Final C race. In the always exciting 200m Relay, the men’s team of the Dolan brothers, Morgan House (Gainesville, Ga.), and Tim Hornsby (Atlanta, Ga.) finished fourth in their heat.

“The team competed hard this weekend and I am proud of the way the team represented us at these Worlds,” said USA Canoe/Kayak National Teams Director William Irving. “A lot of positive changes occurred over the course of this year, and we are confident that we are headed towards better success in the future.”

World Championship athletes will now shift their focus to the 2010 USA C/K Sprint National Championships in Oklahoma City, Okla. This event will serve as a qualifier for the 2010 Pan American Championships, which is the first step in qualifying boats for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

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.