‘I simply put my head down and I knew that I had the higher hand after we got here again into the river mouth the place it’s shallow’ – Kenny Rice leads the surfski cost.
Kenny Rice has been racing the Surfski sequence since he was a junior in the sport. Picture: Supplied
At the lately concluded 2022 ICF Ocean Racing World Championships in Portugal, Team South Africa bagged a complete of 10 medals, with Kenny Rice main the cost successful the World Surfski crown on the closing day.
It was the first full ICF Canoe Ocean Racing World Championships since the begin of the COVID-19 pandemic and featured lots of the largest international names in the sport.
Athletes from Australia and New Zealand, two of the strongest canoe ocean racing nations, made a welcome return to competitors after lacking final 12 months’s titles due to journey restrictions.
South Africa’s Rice, who completed runner as much as his older brother and double world champion Sean Rice at the world championships in 2019, edged previous countryman Hank McGregor, Corey Hill and Mackenzie Hynard in powerful delicate downwind circumstances over the 19,8 kilometer course from Viana do Castelo to Ofir seaside in Esposende.
An elated Rice mentioned after his win: “That was a solid race and I left it all on the line. I had a chat with my brother before the start and he said he wished he could have been here, so it is really nice to bring it back home for the Rice family.”
“I didn’t ever really know it was mine,” he added. “There was a tight pack and about 12 km in I thought I would be hunting for a top five.”
“As quickly because it glassed over I realised that that is what I’m good at. I simply put my head down and I knew that I had the higher hand after we got here again into the river mouth the place it’s shallow… I simply saved saying to myself ‘Shut the door! Shut the door!’ so I’m actually satisfied to have the ability to try this,” he said.
For teammate, McGregor, winning his second surfski world championship silver medal, he said: “I attempted my finest however misplaced it to a quick ending Kenny Rice in the final two kilometers.”
In different outcomes, Uli Hart retained his Under 23 world title with countryman Josh Fenn clinching silver in the similar race.
Saskia Hockly efficiently defended her title in the junior girls’s race, main a South African one-two as Holly Smith completed second and Josh Smith added a fourth gold medal successful the junior males’s title.
Three South African paddlers completed in the high 4 of the junior males’s race, received by Smith, with Matt Coetzer grabbing the bronze medal and Luke le Roux ending fourth.
Defending girls’s champion Michelle Burn raced onto the podium ending third behind Australian Jemma Smith and New Zealander Danielle McKenzie.
“I had a great start and I was on Danielle Mackenzie’s wave, but as soon as we exited the harbour I decided to go out deep to look for some bumps while the others pushed off to the left,” mentioned Burn after the race. “I don’t think that was the right call.”
“Then about 3 km from the finish I just hit the wall,” she added “I am happy just to hang onto my third place,” she added.
Nikki Birkett completed fourth in the girls’s race and Melanie van Niekerk seventh, Kira Bester added a silver medal to the workforce haul in the Under 23 girls’s race, with Jade Wilson racing nicely to complete fifth.
Numerous South African veteran and masters age group paddlers raced into the medals in the age classes, racing in opposition to a area of over 350 paddlers in complete.
Podium contender Jenna Nisbet was pressured to withdraw simply earlier than the begin after testing constructive for Covid-19 contracted at the marathon worlds final weekend.
SUMMARY OF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
Senior males
1 Kenny Rice RSA 1:17:10.78
2 Hank McGregor RSA 1:17:22.18
3 Mackenzie Hynard AUS 1:17:48.03
8 Nicky Notten RSA 1:20:06.31
10 Jasper Mocké 1:21:11.10
Senior girls
1 Jemma Smith AUS 1:26:05.45
2 Danielle McKenzie NZL 1:27:31.06
3 Michelle Burn RSA 1:28:14.78
4 Nikki Birkett RSA 1:30:19.52
7 Melanie van Niekerk RSA 1:31:42.54
11 Candice Murray RSA 1:34:08.24
Under 23 males
1 Uli Hart RSA 1:18:43.76
2 Josh Fenn RSA 1:18:59.75
3 Bernardo Pereira POR 1:20:29.84
5 Daniel Jacobs RSA 1:23:11.82
13 Dyllan Farrell RSA 1:26:49.17
Under 23 girls
1 Ana Swetish USA 1:30:37.36
2 Kira Bester RSA 1:32:13.07
3 Roisin Cahill IRE 1:35:06.34
5 Jade Wilson RSA 1:37:11.01
Junior males
1 Joshua Smith RSA 1:22:59.43
2 Marin Lanee FRA 1:24:03.01
3 Matthew Coetzer RSA 1:25:19.95
4 Luke Le Roux RSA 1:26:09.31
9 Joshua Simpkins RSA 1:28:47.69
12 Levi Mayes RSA 1:31:06.35
20 Benjamin Maehler RSA 1:32:48.49
Junior girls
1 Saskia Hockly RSA 1:32:00.95
2 Holly Smith RSA 1:35:09.73
3 Jasmine RAayward AUS 1:35:10.50
5 Valmajean Hockly RSA 1:37:43.28 0
16 Meriyah Dill RSA 1:57:56.79