World Champs here in Poznan are now over and done with and I have pretty mixed emotions with our racing. Our 500m semi was really good, we were up against some really tough crews and we came through strong to make it through to the A final. The 200m on the other hand was pretty disappointing. We felt we had a good race, but finished 3rd in the semi which meant we were in line to get into the A final on a fastest 3rd place time, which we missed out on by 0,15 of a second and we had to settle for our spot in the B final.
Sunday we were scheduled to race in the 500m A final and the 200m B final just 1 hour later. We decided to go for broke in the 500m since it was our only shot at a medal. We went out really hard and were looking good for the first half but then we blew pretty badly, ending up 9th. There wasn’t much power left in our arms for the 200m B final 60 minutes so even though we gave our all, being the only crew to have raced the 500m took its toll on us and we couldnt match the other crews speed off the mark and got a very disappointing 8th.
Looking back, I think there are a lot of positives that we can take out of this regatta. We made the 500m A final and our 200m semi was a good race. We got our PB time and missed out on the final by so little. We have learned a lot about the 200m race and I am already looking forward to the season ahead as we focus purely on the 200m k2.
Now its time to pack up my things and head on home to Ruvenna who I am dying to see. I will take a few weeks off from formal training before hitting it hard again for next years worlds and the Olympic qualifications.
We have had an awesome week so far here in Szolnok, building up to world champs that is going to start in a weeks time. The weather has been really good and our training and taper has been going exactly according to plan. Mike and I are both healthy and feeling very good in the water. Spirits in our group training here are very good and we are looking forward to getting to Poznan and racing well.
Today Mike and I did a training session with Olympic Champ,Ken Wallace and the rest of the Ausie squad training here. It was really good to have some other really fast guys to line up against and compare ourselves to. Its good to know that the level that we have been training at is high as we matched up well with Ausies.
We head to Poznan on Sunday to settle in and get ready to race 4 days later.
World Champs are starting in 10 days time in Poznan, Poland, and we are in Szolnok in Hungary for our final preparations. We left SA on Saturday and arrived in Hungary and were treated with a nice hot summers day.
We did our first paddling session this morning and it was really nice to paddle in warm water, having spent the last 2 months in cold water, training in Cape Town during winter. The water here feels more boyant and lighter to paddle in.
On arrival we were also treated with the arrival of mine and Mike new K2 as well as my new k1. The excitement of opening a new Nelo is always huge and the boat the comes out the cover is always so well made and never disappoints. Big thanks to Nelo for once again providing me with such awesome boats. Its a great feeling knowing that I am racing the best boat on the market and the Nelo have gone to so much trouble make sure our boat suits us perfectly.
Mike and I are feeling really good in the water. Our training has gone very well and all that is left is to be very carefull that our final few days of training is the correct mix of intense training and good recovery.
