Electric Finals Action in Penrith

 

Sarah Grant was midway through her run when all power at the Penrith Whitewater Stadium went down causing a minor pause in the program.

Violetta Oblinger – Peters recovered after the delay to defend her title with a combined time of 221.7 seconds. She won by a clear 6 seconds from French paddler Mathilde Pichery. Australia’s Louise Natoli won the bronze medal to ensure she would be on the Australian Open dais for the second year in a row.

Five other Australians made the A Final with Kate Lawrence (5^th), Rosalyn Lawrence (6^th), Amanda Pain (7^th) and Sarah Grant (10^th) all gaining valuable international race experience.

Robin Bell once again flew the flag proudly for Australia with a silver medal in the Men’s C1 event. He continued his ongoing rivalry with Tony Estanguet and Michal Martikan, with Estanguet claiming the gold and Martikan the bronze. No doubt come 7 months time in Beijing there will be a close tussle again.

In the earlier finals Anthony Brown won a bronze medal in the Men’s K1 an excellent run in the final. He finished behind Slovenian Peter Kauzer and two time world champion from France Fabien Lefevre.

Fellow Australians Will Forsythe and Sam Lyons finished 5^th and 6^th respectively in a field that contained 5 former world champions and the reigning Olympic champion.

The Men’s C2 was dominated by Peter and Ladislav Skantar throughout every run and they took the gold medal in a time of 224.73 to defend the title they won last year. Tim Baillie and Etienne Stott of Great Britain came second with Martin Broad and Cedric Forget of France finishing third.

The World Series event once again proved to be a great success and the quality field that assembled in Penrith showed the intentions of all countries as they continue on the road to Beijing.