Final slalom selection races Great Britain and overall selection results

canoe slalom kayak lee valley 2013 team selection great britain bcu sportscene icf

John Gregory @gregiej | London | Sportscene - Down to the wire, wraps up many of the sentiments at Lee Valley for the final race of the 2013 Great Britain team selection trials for seniors and U23.

The leaders coming into today’s 4th race after the first three selection races were: Mallory Franklin (C1W), David Florence (C1M), Joe Clarke (K1M), Fiona Pennie (K1W) and Olympic champions Baillie/Stott (C2). The final UK Championships and selection is based upon the top three of four races, the first two at Holme Pierrepont in Nottingham and two races on the Olympic Lee Valley course.

Key highlights are summed up by two of our Olympic medallist. Richard Hounslow tweeted “Big congrats to GB senior team 1st timers [Joe Clarke, Beth Latham and Tom Quinn]”. On Saturday Etienne Stott had tweeted “Stand out performance of the day was Mikey Wilson with the big run to win the men’s kayak!”. In the end it turned out not to be a day of joys and heartache with no top senior paddlers failing to make the team and no individual paddler pulling out an unexpected ultimate run, although an Joe Clarke’s consistent form at all the selection races marks an U23 and likely GB number 1 boat in K1M.

C2
The tightest result of the weekend was the C2 final where Adam Burgess & Greg Pitt were fast but not clean and with a 2 second penalty edged Tim & Etienne by the slimmest margin of one hundredths of a second.

Rank	Name	Total Time	Penalties	Behind
1st	Burgess/Pitt	119.96	2
2nd	Baillie/Stott	119.97	0	+0.01
3rd	Tachell/Quinn	129.93	6	+9.97

K1W
Fiona Pennie continued her form from Saturday with a confident semi-final run 1 second behind Louise Donnington. Lizzie Neave set a blistering second run to go more than 5 second quicker than anyone else. To put Lizzie’s time in perspective it would have placed her 6th in the K1M A final. Impressive – sorry guys!

Rank	Name	Total Time	Penalties	Behind
1st	Lizzie Neave	113.08	0
2nd	Fiona Pennie	118.80	0	+5.72
3rd	Beth Latham	120.19	0	+7.11

canoe slalom kayak lee valley 2013 team selection great britain bcu sportscene icf

K1M
This was anticipated to be the nail biter, with the K1M left pretty wide open going into the last selection race. Drama queen (Richard Hounslow) kept family and friends on edge right to the very last run but pulled out two commanding runs when it mattered. Ironically, the fastest run of the day was not in the A final but in the B final with U23 Tom Brady laying down a sensational 104.68 seconds clear; incredible on this long and technically challenging course. For me Mikey Wilson semi-final run 109.39 + 2 seconds demonstrates that this U20 paddler is one to watch this summer at U23 Europeans and World Championships.

Rank	Name	Total Time	Penalties	Behind
1st	Richard Hounslow	105.49	0
2nd	Joe Clarke	106.35	0	+0.86
3rd	Huw Swetnam	106.50	0	+1.01

C1M
Mark Proctor was humble and philosophical about not making the A final. He has shown he can beat 2012 ICF World Number 1, David Florence, who is still the class act and posted a 110.92 clear on his semi-final run.

Rank	Name	Total Time	Penalties	Behind
1st	David Florence	112.52	2
2nd	Thomas Quinn	116.60	4	+4.08
3rd	George Tatchell	141.14	6	+28.62

C1W
Mallory Franklin was unable to make a clean sweep and win all four races. Kim Woods was quickest but picked up multiple penalties, sometimes it appears as a result of switching at not the most opportune time so as to avoid using the cross-bow stroke. There is an article here in its own right! The standard of the class continues to grow and Mark Delaney and Ian Raspin’s course design on Lee Valley was not very forgiving.

Rank	Name	Total Time	Penalties	Behind
1st	Kimberley Wood	151.72	6
2nd	Alice Spencer	159.89	2	+8.17
3rd	Jacquelyn Shaw	196.27	6	+44.55

International Panel Statement – 29th April 2013

Below you can download an overview of the athletes that are selected to the 2013 Great Britain Team in Canoe Slalom in accordance with the published policy.

It should be commented that the system for calculating the section ranking is highly complex. The system awards; 30 points for a win, 27 points for second etc., which are easy enough for paddlers to calculate and takes their top three results from four races. Fine so far, however, this leaves several paddlers in a draw situation and this is calculated using a complex Excel spreadsheet set of formulas based on the % against the K1M winning time. This means it is impossible for the paddlers to calculate themselves and challenging for the jury to ratify the correct selection outcome.

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As the significance of today’s results increased, so did the number of protests. There appeared to be 9 protests mostly about 50 second penalties on the final gate 21. Four protests were accepted likely as a result of video analysis by the jury. Most notable were the initial reports (tweets) indicating Baillie/Stott had failed to make the A Final due to a 50 second penalty on gate 21 before it was later removed and the result adjusted. Similarly, Kimberley Woods was also awarded a 50 second penalty for incorrectly negotiating gate 21 in the C1W final and on appeal and video analysis the paddler was given the benefit of the doubt.

At the concluding prize giving, GB Canoeing Performance Director, John Anderson MBE commented on the selection events; “We have real talent with new boats in the senior team for the first time. Incredibly well done to the up and coming talent as we focus on our new four year cycle towards Rio. The future of our sport looks bright and bodes well for this year. Thank you to officials and volunteers who braved April arctic weather and community in canoe slalom who will be cheering us on at U23 and Senior Worlds”. Anderson introduced new GB Head Coach Paul Ratcliffe congratulating him on his appointment working with athletes, coaches and support staff through this new cycle.

Paul Ratcliffe, new GB Head Coach reminisced about how since he began slalom in 1981 we have progressed from breakouts on the Manchester Ship Canal to this stunning £39m Lee Valley Olympic facility. Paul said; “It is good to see the legacy starting to evolve, with new horizons and new opportunities for future”.

Enjoy the chicken wings tonight and let’s prepare for the international racing season to begin.

Results selection races 3 & 4

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