20 Mar 2009

Young Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) paddlers Ian Borrows, Robin Jeffery and Rosalyn Lawrence produced stunning results in the canoe slalom Selection Race 2 and 3 — held 7–8 March 2009 at Penrith Whitewater Stadium — winning debut positions on the 2009 Australian senior team.

They join other AIS talent Robin Bell, Anthony Brown, Warwick Draper, William Forsythe, Sarah Grant and Kate Lawrence who are already members of the 15 person team.

Katrina Lawrence had the race of her life in her second run of the women’s K1 slalom, recovering from a 50 second penalty to claim victory in 110.09 seconds. She beat her sister Rosalyn who came in fourth, followed by Dana Benusova and AIS athlete Sarah Grant.

Slovakia’s Matej Benus won the men’s C1 slalom with his second run of 101.96 seconds, narrowly beating the AIS’s Ian Borrows who managed a first run of 103.18 seconds. Borrow’s AIS team-mate, the Olympic bronze medallist Robin Bell, paddled strongly to finish in third place. Robin Jeffery finished fifth in his race,  becoming the third ranked Australian overall.

Exciting racing continued in the men’s K1 event with William Forsythe performing a clean and fluid run to win the race in 98.45 seconds. Fellow AIS athlete, Olympian Warwick Draper finished fifth, and was the second ranked Australian in the competition.

AIS athletes Kynan Maley and Robin Jeffery come in second place in the men’s C2 event behind Slovakian brothers Peter and Ladislav Skantar. Although Maley and Jeffery were the top performing Australians in their event, they just failed to achieve the required performance percentage to gain C2 selection in the national team.

AIS Canoeing National Performance Director Richard Fox was excited by the athletes’ performances:

‘We have a lot of new faces on our national teams and this is a reflection of the effort and commitment of coaches and athletes from around the country, as we start the new Olympic cycle,’ said Fox.

The K1 men’s selection for the World Championship team will be finalised in upcoming World Cup events, before the complete team will travel to La Seu d’Urgell, Spain to compete in the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships, held 9–13 September.