Golds get Fisher set for Sydney

Top Hawke's Bay kayaker Aimee Fisher has had perfect rehearsals in the build-up to next week's Oceania championships in Sydney.

The 17-year-old Karamu High School Year 13 student won four gold medals in Olympic distance events at last weekend's Rotorua-hosted sprint nationals.

Fisher won the K1 200m and K1 500m titles in the highly competitive U-19 girls age group.

She also won gold in the U-19 K2 200m and 500m events with her Auckland-based partner and Samoan representative Rishan Poching.

Fisher took four seconds off her previous personal best in the K1 500 with a time of 2m 2s.

"I couldn't be happier with my form," Fisher said. "While the Hawke's Bay people were expecting me to do well in the K1 500 a lot of the other under-19 girls weren't expecting me to do that well."

The Hawke's Bay Secondary Schools High Performance Academy member was quick to single out the work of three different people as valuable contributors to her success.

The first is coach Ben Bennett who writes her training programmes and leads her training on the water.

Aspyre Fitness owner Jamie Loughran who designs Fisher's strength programmes and trains her twice a week in the gym is another and her massage provider Tina Cummins is the third.

"It is because of them I've been able to avoid injuries and stay in good shape virtually all year round," Fisher said.

"The experience gained from racing in Australia and Europe last year has also proved beneficial," she explained.

At the three-day Oceania champs which begin on Friday and continue until Sunday Fisher will be the only Kiwi junior woman competing in the K1 200 and 500m events. She will also compete in the Kiwis K4 500m team. Upon her return from Sydney Fisher's focus will switch to the March 16-18 national surf lifesaving championships in Gisborne where she will tackle the under-19 girls and open women's ski race events. She won the under-19 race at the Eastern Regionals and finished second in the open women's race at the Central Region champs. Later in March Fisher will play for her school's girls A canoe polo team at their national championships.

This team is aiming to improve upon last year's second placing. After a couple of weeks' rest in April Fisher will switch back to kayaking mode to prepare for events in Europe in July.