Canoeing - Slalom Achievements
In 2001, Robin Bell won silver medals at World Cup events in Augsburg in Germany and Prague in the Czech Republic.
In 2002, Justin Boocock was the stand-out performer with a third place in World Cup 1 in China and a third placing in the World Cup final in Brazil. Justin also recorded an eighth placing in the World Championships.
AIS athletes recorded strong performances on home soil at the 2003 World Cup in Penrith, coming away with one gold, two silver and one bronze medal at the first World Cup of the 2003 season. Justin Boocock and Robin Bell finished first and second in the C1 event ahead of world champion Michal Martikan of Slovakia.
Mia Farrance produced an outstanding performance in the women's kayak event to win a silver medal behind world champion Rebecca Giddens of the United States. The three individual medallists teamed up with Warwick Draper (K1), Mark Bellofiore and Lachie Milne (C2) to win bronze in the World Cup team event.
The Athens Olympics proved to be canoe slalom’s most successful Olympics to date with three top ten results. The 2004 season was also fruitful for the AIS team across the world cup series, with nine top ten results, two of which were 4th places by C1 athlete Robin Bell.
Robin Bell created history in 2005 when he became the first Australian Slalom canoeist in any class to win a gold medal at a World Championship. 2005 proved to be an outstanding year for C1 paddler Robin Bell; his stella season culminated in August when he was crowned World Cup Series Champion and outright World Champion after collecting 2 silver medals in the Athens and Spain World Cups. Bell overcame a world class field including former World Champion Tony Estanguet, to record a stunning victory in the C1 class. His achievements on the world stage saw him become the joint winner of the AIS Athlete of the Year with triathlete Peter Robinson.
In 2006 Robin Bell again picked up the silver medal at the Athens World Cup ahead of his World Title defence at the World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic. For the first time in history, the senior slalom team qualified all boats through to the semi-final with some strong performances through the heats. Kate Lawrence narrowly missed a finals berth finishing 13th leaving Robin Bell as the only finals contender in the C1 class. After a great Semi-finals run, Bell went into the final in 4th place, however he was unable to match the pace of Frenchman Tony Estanguet who finished more than a second ahead of the field.
Some of the year-by-year highlights include:
2006
- For the first time in history, the Australian Slalom team successfully qualified all boats through to the semi-finals of the World Championships in Prague, Czech Republic; however Robin Bell was the only Australian to contest a final finishing 6th in the Men’s C1 class. Kate Lawrence narrowly missed the final, placing 12th whilst C2 pair Mark Bellofiore and Lachie Milne finished 13th
- Robin Bell picked up a silver medal at the Athens World Cup
- Kate Lawrence put in her best international performance to date finishing 10th at the Seu World Cup.
- Numerous NCE athletes reached a 5 year milestone as scholarship holders including Robin Bell, Warwick Draper, Lachie Milne, Victoria Milne and Louise Natol
2005
- Robin Bell’s reached the height of his career in the 2005 season when he picked up 2 silver medals in the Athens and Spain World Cups before going on to be crowned World cup Series Champion and outright World Champion
- Robin Bell awarded AIS Athlete of the Year
- Lachie Milne recognised with a ASC Education Award
2004
- Five AIS athletes competed at the 2004 Athens Olympics achieving the best overall performance at an Olympic Games:
- 4th, Robin Bell – C1
- 7th, Louise Natoli – K1W
- 9th, Warwick Draper – K1M
- 12th Mark Bellofiore and Lachlan Milne – C2
- Robin Bell’s form was consistent in the C1 class with 4th placings at World Cups 1 and 4 and 5th placings at World Cups 2 and 6.
- Kynan Maley (C1) achieved a number of top ten placings with a 5th at World Cup 3, 7th at World Cup 1 and 8th at World Cup 6.
- In the C2 class, the “race-off” for a place in the 2004 Australian Olympic Team was hotly contested between two boats. Mark Bellofiore and Lachlan Milne placing 6th at World Cup 2, just beating Duncan Proust and Ben Hankinson (8th) to an Olympic debut.
2003
- Penrith hosted ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup #1 in May. AIS athletes used the home-course advantage to achieve the following results:
- Justin Boocock – Gold, C1 class
- Robin Bell – Silver, C1 class
- Mia Farrance – Silver, K1W class
- Mark Bellofiore/Lachlan Milne – 4 th, C2 class
- Duncan Proust/Ben Hankinson – 5 th, C2 class
- 4CAT Teams event – Bronze
- Kynan Maley finished in 9 th position at the 2003 World Championships, qualifying Australia’s first Olympic spot for the 2004 Games.
- The K1W team finished in 4 th position in the 2003 World Championships in Augsburg, Germany.
- Robin Bell won Bronze in World Cup 3 at Tacen, Slovenia and won Bronze overall in the World Cup Series for 2003.
2002
- Justin Boocock gained two bronze medals at World Cups held in China and Brazil.
2001
- Slalom Canoeing was re-inducted into the AIS scholarship program. The AIS Slalom Canoeing program is based in Penrith NSW. Athlete Robin Bell won two silver medals in the C1 Slalom class at Augsburg and Prague World Cups. He also gained a silver medal at the Freestyle World Championships, Sort.
2000 Olympics
AIS Slalom Athletes finished as follows:
- Danielle Woodward, 8th
- Robin Bell, 9th
- Kai Swoboda / Andy Farrance, 11th
- John Wilkie, 21st
1999
- At the 1999 World Championships, Robin Bell won a silver medal in the C1 event.
1992-93
- A Highlight for the Slalom Canoeing program was the silver medal won by associate scholarship holder Danielle Woodward in the K1 Slalom Canoeing event.
1991-92
- Fulltime AIS slalom athletes won five gold medals at the Australian Championships, and Justin Boocock won a bronze medal at the Junior World Championships. Associate scholarship holder Danielle Woodward won a bronze medal at the PreWorld Championships.
1989-90
- In March 1990 the AIS's Slalom Canoeing program at New Norfolk, Tasmania was opened, with the aim of preparing slalom paddlers for the Barcelona Olympics.
1988-89
- A feasibility study by the AIS and the Australian Canoe Federation resulted in the canoe unit relocating from Maroochydore to the Gold Coast in Queensland, where the program initially operated from two large shipping containers.
