Britain’s top freestyle athletes put on an incredible display in front of a home crowd on the opening day of the 2022 ICF Canoe Freestyle World Championships, presented by Direct Business Solutions in Nottingham.
12 of the 28-strong British team were in action on the Holme Pierrepont course at the National Water Sports Centre, with show-stopping performances across the board seeing athletes progress to the semi-finals.
It was an impressive opening day of competition for two-time junior World Champion Ottilie Robinson-Shaw as she took on her first senior World Championship competition.
Taking on two events, Ottilie got the British team underway in the women’s kayak squirt preliminaries, with two impressive runs seeing her storm to the top of the leaderboard with a huge score of 2838.00 in total. She will ease through to tomorrow’s semi-finals.
Ottilie backed that up just hours later, also finishing first in the women’s C1 preliminary rounds. The competition in Nottingham is the disciplines debut at a World Championships and the British team made sure they showed it off to a home crowd.
Using her trademark power and getting some incredible air, Ottilie posted a great second run score of 543.33 to post a total of 813.33 and enough to secure top spot.
She will be joined in both semi-finals by British teammate Tamsyn McConchie.
Tamsyn claimed a stacked score of 1711 overall, including a second ride of 1086.67 with a strong mystery move multiplier to go second in the overall table behind Ottilie.
It was the same in the women’s C1 as she claimed second place with a total of 556.67 and comfortably within the top ten needed to progress through to the next round.
Delighted with her performances throughout the day, Tamsyn is pleased to be part of the first wave of paddlers competing in the women’s C1 at a World Championships and can’t wait to compete again in Nottingham.
Rebekah Green makes it a trio of British paddlers progressing to the semi-finals of the women’s C1 which get tomorrow morning from 9am.
She secured a total of 290 to take fourth place and safely progress through.
Layla Al-Riyami also made it a hat-trick of Brits in the women’s kayak squirt semi-finals. A total of 252.00 meant a seventh place finish for Layla, who has only been competing in the sport for two years.
Alex Edwards, Jamie Austen and Sam Wilson all secured top four finishes in the men’s kayak squirt, with ten progressing to the semi-finals.
Alex finished top boat for the British team, with a whopping score of 2938.33, over 600 points clear of second place. The two-time World silver medallist was consistent in both of his rides, scoring over 1400 in each.
He was pleased with his first day of competition.
Jamie Austen took a third place finish with a total of 1820 to join Alex in the semi-finals tomorrow, whilst Sam Wilson came fourth with a score of 1427.00, as he looks to build on his bronze medal at the 2019 World Championships in Sort.
A score bang on 100.00 saw Connor Proud progress through in the Open Canoe Surface preliminaries. The 18-year old will be pleased with his run as he returns for his next round on Wednesday.
It wasn’t to be for Chris Noble as he finished just outside the top ten, in 11th.
A score of 26.67 of was just a little off Adria Bosch Roca of Spain, with Chris drafted in as a late reserve for the competition.
The women’s junior kayak concluded proceedings on the opening day, with Niamh Macken and Isabella Wormall both securing spots in the next round.
With the pair taking on preliminary 4, Niamh finished highest Brit of the day with some impressive performances in Nottingham. The 16-year-old stunned the home crowd with some impressive moves on the twin wave feature to post 946.67 and finish second.
Issie Wormall finished just behind teammate Niamh in third place with a score of 743.33. The junior British Champion is taking on her first World Championships and the pair are delighted with their performances.
In a competition prelims, Poppy Ward unfortunately missed out on the top ten. Poppy produced some good moves to score 140 points in total which saw her finish in 17th place.
Results
Women’s kayak squirt preliminary
Ottilie Robinson-Shaw – 1st and progresses to semi-finals
Tamsyn McConchie – 2nd and progresses to semi-finals
Layla Al-Riyami – 7th and progresses to semi-finals
Men’s kayak squirt preliminary
Alex Edwards – 1st and progresses to semi-finals
Jamie Austen – 3rd and progresses to semi-finals
Sam Wilson – 4th and progresses to semi-finals
Women’s C1 Preliminary
Ottilie Robinson-Shaw – 1st and progresses to semi-finals
Tamsyn McConchie – 2nd and progresses to semi-finals
Rebekah Green – 4th and progresses to semi-finals
Open Canoe Preliminary
Connor Proud – 8th and progresses to semi-finals
Chris Noble – 11th
Women’s Kayak Junior
Niamh Macken – 2nd and progresses to semi-finals
Isabella Wormall – 3rd and progresses to semi-finals
Poppy Ward – 17th
