Oldershaw, Vincent-Lapointe double the gold in Portugal
Feature photo: Balint Vekassy/CanoeKayak Canada
Canada’s best canoe and kayak athletes paddled to seven podium places on Sunday, for a total of nine medals at the opening 2015 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup event of the season in Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal.
Mark Oldershaw followed his 1000-metre canoe gold from a day earlier (Saturday recap below) with a 500m win on Sunday at a time of 1:47.100, reeling in the fast-starting Li Qiang of China and beating him by 0.168 seconds.
Mark Oldershaw in action at the 2015 ICF sprint World Cup in Portugal on May 17, 2015 (photo: Balint Vekassy/CanoeKayak Canada).
A second gold medal of the weekend also came for Laurence Vincent-Lapointe in the C-1 200m, beating teammate Katie Vincent who won silver. The Canadian duo had won gold in the C-2 200m a day earlier.
Two more C-2 class medals arrived for the Canadian team in men’s 200m where Max Poulin and Aaron Rublee finished second, while Benjamin Russell and Gabriel Beauchesne-Sévigny were third in the 1000m.
Canada’s Laurence Vincent-Lapointe (centre) and Katie Vincent (left) on the C-1 200m World Cup podium with Brazil’s Valdenice Nascimento on May 17, 2015 in Portugal (photo: Balint Vekassy/CanoeKayak Canada).
In kayak, Maxime Beaumont of France edged Canadian World Champion Mark de Jonge by 0.14 seconds. Although the world record set in Russia last year by de Jonge (33.961) survived, Beaumont paddled the 200m in a very fast 33.996.
A second silver medal in kayak came from Adam van Koeverden in the 500m. The Canadian finished second to Cyrille Carre of France.
Saturday
Canada is on the board for the 2015 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup season with two wins in Montemor-o-Velho, Portugal.
On Saturday, Mark Oldershaw took first place in the men’s C-1 1000 at a time of 3:45.440, crossing the finish line ahead of Vincent Slominski of Poland (3:46.180) and French canoeist Mathieu Goubel (3:48.360). The Olympic medallist has a busy summer ahead in and out of the water, as he is set to marry fellow Olympian Annamay Pierse and also compete in the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games.
Another Canadian win arrived in the women’s C-2 200 via Laurence Vincent-Lapointe and
Katie Vincent (44.468), edging out a Brazilian duo by a slight margin 0.028 seconds and more than six seconds ahead of the third place Spanish canoe. This race is not in the Olympic calendar.
Canada also had kayaker Adam van Koeverden in a K-1 1000 final on Saturday, however the four-time Olympic medallist finished sixth, just over two seconds behind the host-nation winner Fernando Pimenta of Portugal (3:25.156). The Canadian paddling star is also taking part in the K-1 500 heats, along with teammate Chris Mehak.
Competition continues through Sunday with Canada taking part in the first of three consecutive World Cup events in as many weeks in the sprint season.
