Day one of the Under 23 International Regatta Piestany was an eventful one, with storms producing a hurdle for the paddlers, with several races being delayed due to the poor weather.
That didn’t stop our emerging Aussie paddlers from producing some great performances in the tricky conditions.
South Australian Glenn Rypp led from the front for the Aussie’s narrowly edging Slovakia’s Lubomir Beno by 0.020 seconds in the K1 500m to claim the gold, with Estonian paddler Juurikas Juri claiming the bronze.
Setting the pace, Amy Peters put in a strong performance to win the women’s K1 500m with fellow Australian Maddison Prior claiming the bronze. Peters then combined with Western Australian Kylie Broad to win silver in the women’s K2 500m, just under 1.5 seconds behind the winning time of 1:45.370 set by Slovakian duo Simona Samkova and Lucia Mistinova.
In an all Australian affair with only two teams competing in the women’s K4 500m final, Peters and Broad teamed up with Catherine McArthur and Emily Bews, finishing a second clear of the other Aussie quad featuring Jacqui Beaver, Maddison Prior, Jaymee Martin and Emma Thomson.
New South Welshman Lachlan Tame and Nick Dawe also found the Dias with a strong battle in the K2 500m with the Hungarians and Polish, taking home the bronze.
Amy Peters picked up where she left off on day one winning the women’s K1 1000m final ahead of Slovakian Simona Samkova.
Glenn Rypp couldn’t hold out in the men’s K1 1000m final, finishing second to Slovakian Matej Michalek who finished the stronger. Fellow Australians Sam Norton and Brendan Rice finished fourth and sixth respectively.
After illness, Dane Wilkinson showed great strength partnering with Luke Haniford to finish 2nd to the Hungarians and rounding out the places was Brendan Rice and Lachlan Cooke in 3rd in the K2 1000m.
The final day or racing saw athletes take to the water over 200m, Jacqueline Beaver paddled strongly on her way to silver in the women’s final, finishing less than a second behind Austrian Sabine Bachmayer. Catherine McArthur finished fourth.
McArthur then combined with Peters to win silver in the women’s K2 event behind Slovakia, with Austria finishing third.
Overall in was a fantastic weekend of racing for the 24 athletes the hit the water in Piestany, Australia finished fourth in the Nations Cup, while Amy Peters was recognised for her fine performances, placing eighth in the most successful competitor’s category.
The under 23 team have settled into a training camp at the AIS European Training Centre near Varese ahead of their next regatta in Bochum 17-19 June.
