HIGH CALIBRE KAYAKING

A HEARTENING PERFORMANCE FROM THE KAYAKERS SAW SOME GOOD RESULTS The small kayak squad couldn’t return New Zealand to its golden days of the 1980s, but still turned in a heartening performance, with three top-eight finishes. Most attention focused on K1 1000 paddler Ben Fouhy, 29, a former world champion and the silver medallist in the 2004 Athens Olympics. Fouhy was only third in his heat, being timed at 3min 33.037s, which left him 3½ seconds behind his heat winner, Adam van Koeverden of Canada.

He looked a different man in his repechage, qualifying impressively for the final by finishing second in 3min 33.542s, giving him a safety margin of 3½ seconds. With three to qualify, Fouhy slotted in behind heat winner Ken Wallace of Australia, and easily headed off third place-getter Markus Oscarsson of Sweden.

In the final, Fouhy, made a conservative start, and was eighth after 250m, improving to fifth at the halfway point. Over the next 250 he applied the pressure to move into fourth, but was unable to make any more progress over the final crucial metres. Fouhy recorded 3min 29.193m. The race was won by Briton Tim Brabants, who paddled outstandingly and led all the way. His winning time was 8min 26.323s. Eirik Larsen (Norway) and Wallace took the silver and bronze. Fouhy looked a contented man afterwards. He felt that he has paddled right up to his best and given all he could.

“I’m pleased with my performance,” he said. “It’s been a tough four years for me, but I feel I have my life in perspective now, and I’ve put it all together for these Olympics. I was able to get my focus 100 percent on this race. It was a really high-calibre field. When you’ve got a guy like Adam van Koeverden, second in the worlds last year, missing out, you know how hard the race was.”

Steven Ferguson had a tough assignment, paddling the K2 1000 with Mike Walker and also contesting the demanding K1 500.

Walker and Ferguson were only mediocre in their heat, finishing fourth, 1½ seconds behind the winners, Hungary. The New Zealanders were 0.170s away from advancing directly to the final. In the repechage, the New Zealanders, needing a top-three finish, eased through, taking a close second to Latvia. They were timed at 3min 23.511s, just 0.103s off first place.

The final was won by Germans Martin Hollstein and Andreas Ihle in 3min 11.809s. The silver and bronze went to the Danish and Italian teams. Walker and Ferguson finished sixth in 3min 15.329s. The New Zealanders, in lane one, were only seventh at halfway, but made a bold move to fourth over the next 250 metres. Over the desperate closing stages, the field closed up and there was just 0.79s between third and sixth.

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STORY BY + JOSEPH ROMANOS
PHOTOS COURTESY + NZ HERALD