Skip to content

Canadian paddles to gold

Canada’s Laurence Vincent-Lapointe beat a strong field to win the women’s C-1 200 metres Sunday, claiming her second gold medal at the world canoe and kayak championships.
Laurence Vincent-Lapointe
Laurence Vincent-Lapointe won the 200 meters C1 women’s final at the Canoe Sprint World Championships in Szeged

SZEGED, Hungary — Canada’s Laurence Vincent-Lapointe beat a strong field to win the women’s C-1 200 metres Sunday, claiming her second gold medal at the world canoe and kayak championships.

The 19-year-old paddler from Trois-Rivieres, Que., crossed in 48.876 seconds to defend her world title in the non-Olympic event. Maria Kazakova of Russia was second, while Staniliya Stamenova of Bulgaria won the bronze.

“I was caught off guard by the fast start by the field and that made me more nervous during the race,” Vincent-Lapointe said. “My arms were really burning up as I approached the finish line. This was the strongest field I’d ever faced.”

The Canadian’s victory came a day after she and Mallorie Nicholson of Oakville, Ont., took gold in the C-2 500-metre final.

The win was Canada’s third at the world championships. Adam van Koeverden of Oakville started things off with a victory in the men’s K-1 1,000 on Friday.

Mark De Jonge of Halifax earned an Olympic quota spot for Canada with his sixth-place finish in the men’s K-1 200 metres.

“It was a very satisfying race,” said De Jonge. “I had known since May I was going to race this event at worlds so it was a long build-up practising every day with the objective to get the Olympic spot for Canada. It was a good feeling to deliver when it was time.”

Piotre Siemionowski of Poland won the gold. Britain’s Edward McKeever was second, while Germany’s Ronald Rauhe was third.

Canada earned three Olympic quota spots at the world championships. The final opportunity to gain spots will be at the Pan American Games in October in Mexico.

“Certainly we had some athletes who were hoping for better results but we had several boats which were very competitive,” said Barney Wainwright, CanoeKayak Canada’s high performance director. “We’ve learned a lot and now we have to turn around focus quickly to the Pan Am Games.”

In other non-Olympic events, Mark Oldershaw of Burlington, Ont., was fifth in the C-1 5,000 while Van Koeverden was fifth in the K-1 5,000.