Despite calm conditions on the water, Australia’s Paracanoe team started the 2011 ICF World Sprint Championships with turbulent results today as newcomers advanced to finals while they only veteran did not.

David Rolfe, who finished ninth in last year’s V1 200m Paracanoe TA event before switching to V1 200m, was disqualified when the outrigger on his boat passed the start line early.  Rolfe, a seasoned competitor who comes to canoe from a career in Paralympic swimming, took the disappointment in stride, focusing more on his teammates than himself.

“It’s not about my performance, it’s about the whole team and there’s a lot more competition left,” Rolfe said. “Plus, I’m no spring chicken and Rio is five years away so it’s always been my intent to promote the sport and get more and younger paddlers into it.”

Rio de Janeiro, is host city for the 2016 Olympics where Paracanoe will make its debut.

On the flip side, two other Aussies did advance to Thursday’s final. Though he missed his goal of getting a sub 50-second time, Glenn Pyne’s 55.213 put him in sixth place in his class and earned him a berth in tomorrow’s K1 200 Paracanoe final.
“I have been doing a lot of work developing and perfecting my starts and breaking the race down into three parts,” Pyne told the Australian Canoe Federation before traveling to Europe.
For just his second outing in canoe sprint, Brock Ingram, a mineworker from Western Australia, had an impressive seventh place finish in the K1 200m Paracanoe LTA class, advancing him to the final heat of his class.

The only member of the team yet to be tested is Kara Kennedy from Australia’s Gold Coast, who will compete tomorrow for the K1 200m Paracanoe TA World title against Italy, Canada and Brazil.