Other Sport
SA win K2 marathon gold
2008-09-21 19:43
Email | Print
Ant Stott, Gameplan Media
|
Tyn Nad Vltavou, Czech Republic - Ant Stott and Cam Schoeman ended the South African challenge at the world marathon championships with a stunning gold medal in the men's K2 competition, just a day after Stott had won a bronze medal in the men's K1 race.
The duo fought off spirited challenges from crews from Spain and Hungary to win the end-sprint at the end of a riveting and highly competitive contest.
Stott and Schoeman were dominant throughout the fiercely competitive men's K2 race, raced on another very cold day. Their skill running with the boat, and their speed off-the-mark allowed them to dictate tactics going into and coming out of the portages, and then conserve energy by riding the wave of the other boats on the front bunch.
There were seven boats together at the front after three laps, with the South Africans and the Hungarian duo Attila Jambor and Mate Petrovics controlling tactics. By the end of the fourth portage the front group had been whittled down to four, with the Hungarians surprising casualties of the dog-eat-dog racing.
However the Hungarians fought back gallantly and coming out of the final portage the race for the world title was reduced to four crews - South Africa, Hungary, Spain and the Czech Republic.
Stott and Schoeman worked hard for a slight advantage coming into the final sprint to the line to hold off the the Spaniards Guerrero and Alonso and the Hungarian crew Jambor and Petrovics.
First time victory
The crew of Graeme Solomon and Lance King were not far behind the front bunch, in a tight group contesting tenth place, finishing up thirteenth. It is the first time that a South African crew has won a K2 world championships.
In 2003 Hank McGregor won the K1 world title in Spain, while in Australia the women's crew of Alexa Lombard and Donia Kamstra won the silver medal in the K2 race. Grant Van Der Walt won the junior K1 title last year.
In the junior races the talented crew of Ben Biggs and Stuart Waterworth were well in contention racing in the front bunch, before Waterworth started battling to breathe in the very cold racing conditions. They fell off the front bunch and eventually had to withdraw from the race on the third lap to seek medical help.
After some time receiving oxygen from the on-site medical personnel, a disappointed Waterworth was discharged. The other South African crew in the race Clinton Cook and his partner Stu McLaren finished in ninth place.
In the girls race the Amanzimtoti pairing of Lauren Felgate and Jenna Ward spent most of their race in the fourth bunch and went on to secure fifteenth place.
Injury led to the withdrawal of the South African C2 crew of Calvin Mokoto and Radoslaw Olszewski. Their race ended on the third lap with Olszewski battling with a recurrent leg injury .
The South African team jets home this week, having securing seven medals in the Masters Cup event that precedes the senior and junior world championships, and the two medals in the K1 races.