Olympics: Paddlers suffer setback in quest for Athens places

11.30am


New Zealand's bid to qualify more kayaking crews for the Athens Olympics suffered a setback on day two of the European flatwater canoe championships at Poznan in Poland overnight.

No New Zealand paddlers qualified for A finals.

The K4 crew of Dave Kennedy, Ben Fouhy, Steve Ferguson and Owen Hughes finished seventh in their semifinal and have not qualified for the final, so their aim of qualifying for the Olympics is over.

Team manager Mark Watson said the crew were behind from the start and no matter what they tried, they couldn't bring the boat up to a competitive position.

"The result is extremely disappointing as they have been showing a lot of promise in the last two weeks and were confident of qualifying," he said.

Their time was 3 minutes 5.46 seconds.

In the men's K1 500m semifinals, Ferguson got a bad start and failed to move through the field -- finishing fourth in a time around 1min 43sec.

In the women's K1 500, Katie Pocock was sixth in 1min 58.02sec.

Watson said Mike Walker and Pete Longdill raced well in their semifinal of the K2 1000 to make the top 18 which placed them in the B final.

Troy Burbidge was a close fourth in the K1 1000 in 3min 44.13sec and also races off in a B final.

"Unfortunately the team has not achieved what it set out to do. Most are involved in B finals tomorrow where they will have the chance to gain more valuable race experience and record some fast times," Watson said.

World champion Fouhy and Ferguson had already qualified for Athens in the K1 and K2 1000m events before going to Europe.

- NZPA