Rachel Cawthorn zeroes in on medals in Euro Champs, this afternoon
Sailing may have had 3 blondes in a boat - the sport of Canoeing has their own blonde - Rachel Cawthorn - the ruthless racer from Wey Kayak club, Guildford. She qualified in first place in her semi-final womens kayak 500m race this morning and this afternoon takes on the best of Europe in her quest to be recognised as one of the continent's elite female canoeists. She takes her place beside the already pre-qualified leading luminaries of Womens K1 racing (with a average age of 36)- Katalin Kovacs (Hun) Katrin Wagner-Austin (Ger) and Josefa Idem (Ita) - who have a collective medal CV greater than many of the assembled nations attending this regatta at Brandenburg.
When asked how the race went, she said simply ' Good I think' quickly adding that she didnt think her start was the best.
Coach Miklos Simon, clearly thrilled with her performance, disagreed and was full of praise for her endeavours. ''There is more to come' said the Hngarian dynamo who is working with Rachel and the K4 which will also race in their own final this afternoon, buoyed by their medal success in the Womens K4 200m event, on Friday. Cawthorn's race plan went pretty much as she expected. Spanish racer, Teresa Portela took out a half boat length lead from the start, an advantage she retained to the 300 metre mark, with Cawthorn keeping her within stalking distance'. Then white lightning struck and with her trademark spurt, Cawthorn, took the lead over the last 15 metres to cross in first place and guarantee a starting position close to the action this afternoon. A top 5 finish for Cawthorn and more of the same from the WK4 will be a 'check in the box' for GB women's racing which is definitely on the right path for London 2012.
There were good performances too from Ed McKeever n his Mens K1. In the semi-final of 'Death' where he was facing Dane, Rene Poulsen , Ronnie Rauhe (Ger) (already medallists this weekend) and World bronze medallist Marek Twardowski (Pol) McKeever produced a good result to finish 4th.
He will race in the 'B' final.
There was a much better showing too from James Train (5th in C1 semi-final) who has begun to find some improved form in this regatta. Like McKeever plus the K2 500m pair of Paul Wycherley and Jon Schofield, he will race again in B final
Said Head Coach Brendan Purcell ' We've seen a really good effort from all of our athletes this morning and e are looking forward to the finals this afternoon'.
All of the finals will feature on EUROSPORT today transmitting at 18:30 BST.