Today we had the final for the K1 1000. I came 5th in the World which sounds good but I am disappointed!
I can’t explain why I didn’t do better. I have struggled a lot this year with my training culminating in a shocker at World Cup 2 in Hungary. I persevered to World Cup 3 in France where I managed to get a silver medal. I arrived home with a chest infection and groveled for 3 weeks, had an ok week of training then left for Europe where training picked up really well with the 3.25 I did in Mechelen last week. Being only my second time trial I don’t think I was overdoing it and I felt I could have knocked at least another second or more off it if it was a serious race.
The regatta felt good for me, I was happy to win my semi with some gas in the tank. Today I felt good warming up but in the race I seemed to lose pace early on and not be able to recover the ground. I am puzzled.
Now we are off to Asia to look around for some training locations then we race the Beijing test regatta in two weeks. Maybe I can take a cheap shot at the new World Champ after he has been celebrating. Congratulations Tim! and also to the guys who qualified! Mission number 1 was to qualify!
Also on the positive side it was great to be able to race in front of such an inspired crowd. The atmosphere was fantastic, not something a paddler gets to experience on my side of the world. The regatta was sold out and we had crowds of people trying to get a glimps of the action through the fences!
Below is a quick photo I took of the grandstands as everybody was packing up and leaving.
