Maley and Jeffery Reach World Cup Final
London bound trio Jessica Fox, Kynan Maley and Robin Jeffery all showed positive signs leading in to the Olympic Games in just over a month after finishing sixth in the women’s K1 and ninth in the men’s C2 in La Seu d’Urgell, Spain overnight.
The third and final ICF Slalom World Cup prior to London has concluded in La Seu d’Urgell, Spain after three days of exciting action down the Parc Ol√≠mpic del Segre course.
Western Australian pair Kynan Maley and Robin Jeffery reached their first men’s C2 World Cup final in 2012, finishing ninth in the final after earlier in the day producing a clean run to finish third in the semi final.
It was great result for the WAIS paddlers after Jeffery suffered from food poisoning on Friday.
The final was won by French pair Nicolas Peschier and Pierre Labarelle who won their second consecutive C2 gold medal after victory in Pau, France a week earlier.
The French duo finished 1.40 second ahead of Slovenian cousins Peter and Ladislav Skantar, with German paddlers Thomas Becker and Robert Behling.
After finishing 16th last weekend in Pau, Jeffery was pleased with the improvement he and Maley have made in the space of a week.
“In Pau we thought we were really close to having that good run and here in the semi final we were really able to work hard to keep making room around all the gates, and I think that is what gave us the difference and a good semi final, unfortunately a few touches in the final but it’s a big step forwards.”
Maley was equally happy with the result, “I was aiming for a medal today, but I am pretty happy with what we pulled off and everything is in a good place ahead of the Games,” said Maley.
18 year old NSWIS paddler Jessica Fox has continued her fine build up to London with her third consecutive final appearance, finishing sixth in the women’s K1 event.
Three gate touches proved costly the for Oceania Championship silver medallist relegating her from second place down to sixth on the time sheet.
“In Pau I was 8th and in Cardiff in was seventh so I guess I have improved a little bit in sixth place,” said Fox.
“While I had too many mistakes here, I am actually happy that I was fast enough to make a podium if I was clean here.”
Slovenia’s Ursa Kragelj won the gold in 104.66, 1.51 seconds ahead of Frenchwoman Emilie Fer, with Czech paddler Katerina Kudejova in third position, 0.35 seconds further adrift.
Victoria’s Sarah Grant and Old Bonalbo’s Kate Lawrence missed out on a final berth, finishing 20th and 28th respectively.
The team will return to Pau, France for a few days this week to relax, before the Olympic athletes travel to the Lee Valley Olympic venue for a five day training camp, before basing themselves in Pau until the lead up to the Games.
On Saturday, Armidale’s Will Forsythe was unable to back up from Friday’s Heroic display which saw him record the quickest time in the men’s K1 heats, missing the top 10 cut for the final to eventually finish in 18th.
Pau Bronze medallist Lucien Delfour finished a spot ahead of Forsythe in 17th, while Melbourne’s Warwick Draper finished in 30th.
French paddlers dominated the final, with Etienne Daille continuing his scintillating World Cup form, producing a fast and clean run time of 92.50, to finish 1.16 seconds ahead of Germany’s Fabian Doerfler, with another Frenchman Vivien Colober rounding out the medals.
Spanish paddler Jordi Demenjo won an enthralling battle in the men’s C1 final, finishing just 0.04 seconds ahead of Great Britain’s David Florence, with French star Tony Estanguet in third.
Kynan Maley was the pick of the Australians finishing in 17th, with NSWIS paddler Ian Borrows finishing in 25th.
Borrow’s will shortly depart Spain for some training in Bourg, before travelling to Wausau, USA early next month for the U23 World Championships.
The 22 year old has been pleased with his performances across the first three World Cups.
“It has been good, Cardiff was a bit windy at times so the race wasn’t really that crash hot but it was alright and then Pau was really good how everything worked out, everything is been going along really smoothly the last little while so it has been good,” said Borrows.
Ros Lawrence looked sharp as she set off in the Women’s C1 Final on Saturday and appeared to have the pace to overcome several early gate touches, however she missed the final upstream gate leaving her with 58 seconds of penalties and a ninth place finish overall.
– Canoeing Australia