Kiwi Kurtis Imrie produced a herculean effort on the final day of the 2019 ICF Junior and U23 Canoe Sprint World Championships in Pitesti, Romania to grab an outstanding U23 K1 500m bronze. <\/p>\n
Racing four times in a little under four hours on the Budeasa Dam on the Arges River, Imrie summoned the energy to clinch New Zealand\u2019s maiden medal of the regatta with a top-quality display.<\/p>\n
Competing in the penultimate A Final of the four-day championship, the Mana paddler was rewarded with precious metal for a typically aggressive but well-judged effort. <\/p>\n
The 23-year-old rocketed out of the start to establish an early advantage and hit the 250m mark with a 0.40 lead from the German Jakob Thordsen.<\/p>\n
In the second half of the race the powerful German took control of the race, but Imrie would not be denied a podium spot. In the final sprint for the line, the Kiwi, whose elder sister Kayla is part of the New Zealand women\u2019s elite open squad, conceded gold to Thordsen (1:47.247) and silver to the Dane Rasmus Knudsen (1:47.983) but finished almost half a second clear of the remainder in 1:48.575 for bronze.<\/p>\n
Imrie had earlier qualified for the A Final by placing second in 1:49.765 \u2013 0.660 behind the semi-final winner Agustin Rodriguez of Argentina to sneak into the medal race by a slender margin of just 0.228 from the fourth placed finisher Michal Bil of Poland <\/p>\n
The powerful Kiwi also took to the water in the U23 men\u2019s K4 500m having stepped in the previous day as a last-minute replacement for Ashton Reiser, who was forced to withdraw through illness.<\/p>\n
Teaming up with Zach Ferkins (Poverty Bay) Ben Duffy (Arawa) and Hamish Legarth (Hawkes Bay), New Zealand placed fifth (1:27.509) in the second semi-final \u2013 finishing 3.012 behind semi-final victors Denmark \u2013 to progress to the B Final.<\/p>\n
In the consolation final, the men in black made a rapid start and at the 250m checkpoint sat in a handy fourth spot. However, the crew struggled to maintain their position and crossed the line seventh in 1:30.919 \u20133.854secs behind race winners Russia.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m buzzing and happy with how the weekend went,\u201d explains Kurtis. \u201cI was not putting too much pressure on myself to target a medal but I would definitely have favoured that my strongest event would be the K1 500m. <\/p>\n
\u201cI only got told yesterday morning I was needed to step into the K4 because Ashton was sick. I was the only option (to replace) and I was willing to jump in and give it my best shot because I did not want to let down the guys that I train with all year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was challenging to race four races in one day but I trusted that Fred (Loyer), my coach, had got me physically fit enough and mentally I just had to hold it together.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI then knew I just had to execute the best race I could, and, for me, that is attacking the race and getting out as quickly as I could. I managed to do that pretty well and I\u2019m happy to jump on the podium and come home with some hardware.\u201d<\/p>\n
New Zealand\u2019s junior men\u2019s K4 500m crew wrapped up their regatta by placing ninth in the B Final. The quartet of Lucas Thompson and Jack Clifton of Whanganui and the Waitara duo of Fletcher Moles and Robson Old had earlier advanced from the semi-final on time – finishing eighth in 1:35.560 behind race winners Russia (1:27.166).<\/p>\n
In the consolation final the Kiwis clocked 1:39.002 to finish a little over eight seconds behind the triumphant French crew. The four Kiwi teenagers will, nonetheless, have benefited from their European experiences.<\/p>\n
Olivia Brett and Pieta Luthi were the remaining New Zealand crew in action on the final day in Pitesti. The junior women\u2019s K2 500m combination competed in the second semi-final and the duo made a blistering start to lead after 100m. <\/p>\n
At the halfway mark the Kiwis were still in contention for a top three placing, which would have elevated the all Arawa Club pairing to an A Final. Unfortunately, they could not maintain their pace and exited the competition in eighth (2:06.354). In a race with a strong East European flavour Belarus (1:56.087) pipped Serbia by just 0.078 to take out the semi-final win. <\/p>\n
Image of Kurtis Imrie competing in the U23 men\u2019s K1 500m Credit: Florence Minowa<\/p>\n Article by Steve Landells <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Kiwi Kurtis Imrie produced a herculean effort on the final day of the 2019 ICF Junior and U23 Canoe Sprint World Championships in Pitesti, Romania to grab an outstanding U23 K1 500m bronze<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2357,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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