Ben Fouhy World Champion K1 1000m Kayaking New Zealand

Today was important for me and another improvement and step forward on my return to the sport. We are very pleased with my 3rd placing in the B Final. Also pleasing was my time relative to the winner who arguably was a serious medal contender who like many other class athletes here didnt cope optimally with the conditions in the semi finals. Obviously comparing A Final and B Final times is pointless as there was over and hour between them and an obvious shift in the wind. However a very impressive Final to watch. Congratulations to Max, Tim and Aleh.

Overall the best 1000m I have been able to put together in a long time and there are no mysteries as to where to from here. I feel confident with the new opportunities I can get back to my best and from there build on that. Im very excited about the next two years.

Hi there,

Just a quick note to say thank you for all the support!!!

As many are aware we are now in Poznan, Poland contesting the World Kayak and Canoe sprint World Championships.

Today we had the heats and semi finals for the K1 1000m. It is my first time in the start gates since the Olympic final in Beijing. I have to say it is nice to be back competing.

The conditions today were testing for the best of paddlers. In my heat a fellow competitor fell in while in the start block and Ive now heard of 5 other competitors taking a swim with in a half hour period due to the very strong tail wind and waves and swell. I didnt paddle well enough in the heats and paddle to my seed therefore ended up in a very competitive semi final draw with some serious class paddlers.

I am pleased that I adapted to the conditions (Thanks to K4 paddler Mike Walkers surf ski paddling tips) and used all of my own experience to paddle comparatively 5 seconds better in the semi final than I did in the heats to finish 5 seconds behind the winner of our semi final. In other races my time was far more competitive although as always one needs to be careful comparing one race to another. It is possible though in other races I could have made the A final anyhow given my build up this is reality.

Next stop is Saturday morning B Final with Mr Van Koeverden and many other very good paddlers.