It was a wet and windy start to Day Two at the ICF Junior and U23 Canoe Sprint World Championships in Hungary.
Madison Garrett and Natasha Macgibbon got the racing underway for Team New Zealand, finishing fourth in their K2 Women 500m Junior Heat, advancing to the semifinals, where the pair finished sixth.
Next up was Julia Padrutt in the K1 Women 1000m U23 Heats. Padrutt placed sixth. Later, Padrutt finished ninth in the semifinals.
In the K1 Men 1000m U23 Heats, Ben McCallum finished sixth and was made to wait to see if he qualified for a spot in the semifinals. McCallum would return to the water in the afternoon session for the semifinals. A fine effort saw McCallum narrowly miss out on an A-Final berth by just over half a second.
The string of 1000m events continued with Isla Joyce finishing sixth in her K1 Women Junior Heat, before placing seventh in the semifinal. Joyce will now race in the B-Final.
In a competitive K2 Women 500m U23 Heat, Samalulu Clifton and Lucy Matehaere finished sixth before matching that effort in their semifinal. The pair now prepare for the B-Final.
The K2 Men 500m U23 impressed with a fourth-placed finish in their Heat. A tight semifinal saw Grant Clancy and Thomas Macgibbon finish eighth.
The mixed pairs closed out a busy and challenging day in Szeged.
Damien da Silva and Isla Joyce are into the B-Final after finishing seventh in the K2 Mixed 500m Junior Semifinal.
In the K2 Mixed 500m U23 Heats, a sixth-placed finish saw Kacey Ngataki and Julia Padrutt advanced to the semifinals.
Racing on Day Three begins at 6.45 PM and will be live-streamed on ICF’s YouTube channel, Planet Canoe.
Canoe Racing NZ will be providing regular updates and results on the website and social media throughout the event.
