As the South African contingent of eleven paddlers prepare for the biggest sprint regatta of the year, this year’s ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in the canoeing heartland of Hungary comes with added pressure of being a 2020 Olympic Games qualifying event when it takes place from Wednesday, 21 August, to Sunday, 25 August, this week.
For the South African athletes lining up in Olympic qualifying races, they will need little reminders that good results from Szeged in Hungary will give them direct qualification to the global showpiece in Tokyo next year.
The Olympic committee streamlined the canoe sprint events ahead of the 2020 edition and on the women’s side, Team South Africa will have boats in all but one of the Olympic qualifying events, the K1 200m and 500m and the K2 200m and 500m races.
“We are both extremely excited to line up on the start line representing South Africa!” – Bridgitte Hartley
Esti van Tonder will be fighting it out in both the K1 200m and the K1 500m, while sprint queen Bridgitte Hartley has teamed up with the young Donna Hutton for the K2 200m and 500m and Hartley will also contest the non-Olympic K1 5000m.
“We have been in Hungary for the past week preparing for the World Championships and we were lucky to have (Hungarian coach) Nandor Almasi next to us on the boat through a few of our training sessions since we have been here,” Hartley said.
“He is definitely a mastermind when it comes to technique and putting everything in place to make us as ready as we can be for the competition and we are both extremely excited to line up on the start line representing South Africa!”
Team South Africa – 2019 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, Szeged Hungary (Mixed genders):
Chrisjan Coetzee – K1 200m
Esti van Tonder – K1 200m and K1 500m
Louis Hattingh – K1 1000m
Louis Hattingh and Jarryd Gibson – K2 1000m
Bridgitte Hartley and Donna Hutton – K2 200m and K2 500m
David Rodrigues, Nicholas Weeks, Mike Arthur and Dawie Gerber – K4 500m
Bridgitte Hartley – K1 5000m
Alex Masina – K1 5000m
Photo 1 Caption: South African sprint queen Bridgitte Hartley (front) will team up with young Donna Hutton for the women’s K2 200m and 500m at the upcoming ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Szeged, Hungary starting on Wednesday, 21 August, 2019. Photo: Bence Vekassy/Gameplan Media
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