Brits win six medals to open Para-Canoe Worlds

Jeannette Chippington picked up three medals for Great Britain in Duisburg, Germany. 29 Aug 2013

Jeannette Chippington won three golds for Great Britain at the 2013 ICF Para-Canoe World Championships in Duisburg, Germany.

ⒸICF

By ICF

“On the start line it’s very lonely, thoughts start going through you mind, why am I doing this? But when you get that gold medal you realise what it's all for.”

Former British Paralympic gold-medal winning swimmer Jeanette Chippington showed her class as her high cadence paddling proved too much for the rest of the field on Wednesday (28 August) at the 2013 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Duisburg, Germany.

The 43-year-old from Maidenhead won all three events she entered (V1 200m A, V1 200m TA and K1 200m A), equalling her impressive haul from last year’s Championships. V1 represents the canoe events and K1 represents the kayak events.

With six World Championship golds since making the switch in sports back in 2011 she has certainly became a dominant force in para-canoe now.

Chippington already has 12 Paralympic medals spanning five Games from swimming; and if she manages to maintain this form she will certainly be a strong contender to add to that tally when canoe debuts at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

Speaking after her first race, the mother of two said: “On the start line it’s very lonely, thoughts start going through you mind, why am I doing this? But when you get that gold medal you realise what it's all for.”

First Championship gold

Ukraine’s Oleksandr Hrenchko was the first athlete to win gold at this year’s Championships. He out-sprinted Poland’s Jakub Tokarz to win the V1 men’s 200m A.

Great Britain’s Daniel Hopwood, last year’s champion, was promoted to bronze in the same race after Brazil’s Luis Cardoso Da Silva was disqualified for straying from his lane.

Speaking after the race, Hopwood said: “This year seems to be a massive improvement. There's lots more competition and the people who are coming in are a lot higher quality.”

The rise in standards was clearly visible throughout the day’s competition with all races being highly competitive.

Close racing

In perhaps the tightest race of the day, Spain’s Javier Reja managed to edge ahead of the rest and secure his first World Championship gold in the V1 men’s 200m.

The 39-year-old was thrilled with the result and was already looking forward to celebrating. Laughing after the race he said: “I will celebrate with a jam sandwich and beer.”

Great Britain’s Nicholas Heald claimed the Silver and Poland’s Tomasz Mozdzierski the bronze.

Further British success

It was another Brit who was triumphant in the K1 Women 200m TA. Emma Wiggs, the current European Champion, narrowly defeated Megan Blunk from the U.S.A by just over five-hundredths-of-a-second.

In the same race, Ukraine’s Nataliia Lugutenko pick up the Bronze and her nations second medal of the day.

This was Blunk’s second silver of the day, her first was in the V1 200m TA.

Full results

V1 women 200m para-canoe A

1. Jeanette Chippington (GBR)

2. Kara Kennedy (AUS)

3. Anne Yoshida (USA)

V1 women 200m para-canoe TA

1. Jeanette Chippington (GBR)

2. Megan Blunk (USA)

3. Tamara Oliveira Da Silva (BRA)

K1 women 200m para-canoe TA