The New Zealand team came home with 3 medals following the first ICF World Cup events of the year, with Aimee Fisher winning both a gold and silver medal and Finn Murphy winning a breakthrough silver medal in the paracanoe.
It was a busy couple of weeks for the NZ Canoe Sprint team with world cup events on consecutive weekends in Szeged, Hungary and Brandenburg, Germany. Aimee Fisher lead the results for the kiwi team, winning silver medal in the K1 500m in Szeged in an exceptionally close finish with Australian Natalia Drobot. The following week in Brandenburg, Aimee left no room for doubt as she stormed home in tricky paddling conditions to claim the gold.
At the Paracanoe World Cup in Brandenburg and in just his third international event, Finn Murphy claimed silver medal in the KL3 200m after finishing in a deadheat for 2nd place with Brazil’s Miqueias Elias Rodriguez. Finn was strong throughout the regatta, placing 2nd in his heat and winning his semifinal.
“Going into the A Final, I felt like I’d figured out the processes I needed to execute three good races,” he says. “Looking back, I probably executed the semifinal even better than the final. My start wasn’t quite as clean, but by the 100m mark I knew where I stood relative to the guys beside me, and I was ahead of both of them.
“From there it was just a matter of holding on. With 50 metres to go it started to get really hard, but it’s amazing how, when you know you’re doing well, you can tap into an extra energy source.”
“When I looked up at the scoreboard and saw I’d won silver, I was chuffed,” he says. “I felt like I’d executed the race well and I was stoked with how it went, but I’d definitely surprised myself.”
Szeged World Cup results
Silver – Aimee Fisher, WK1 500m
10th – Quaid Thompson, MK1 5000m
12th – Olivia Brett/Greer Morley/Aimee Fisher/Lucy Matehaere, WK4 500m
18th – James Munro/Kurtis Imrie/Hamish Legarth/Grant Clancy, MK4 500m
22nd – Quaid Thompson, MK1 1000m
8th in semifinal – Hamish Legarth/Grant Clancy
7th in heat – James Munro/Kurtis Imrie
Brandenburg World Cup results
Gold – Aimee Fisher, WK1 500m
Silver – Finn Murphy, MKL3 200m
5th – Peter Cowan, MVL3 200m
7th – Quaid Thompson, MK1 5000m
9th – Olivia Brett/Greer Morley/Aimee Fisher/Lucy Matehaere, WK4 500m
11th – Quaid Thompson, MK1 1000m
13th – James Munro/Kurtis Imrie/Hamish Legarth/Grant Clancy, MK4 500m
15th – Kurtis Imrie, MK1 500m
9th in semifinal – Hamish Legarth/Grant Clancy
7th in heat – James Munro/Quaid Thompson
