Brown cements his K2 spot for World Champs

Whanganui paddler Max Brown (left), and Kiwi K2 teammate Kurtis Imrie have made the New Zealand team for the Canoe Sprint World Championships in Hungary in August.
Photo / Supplied

Whanganui's Max Brown has again paddled his way into a New Zealand team after stellar performances in Kiwi boats at the ICF Sprint and Paracanoe World Cup regattas in Poland and Germany.

Brown and his New Zealand teammate Kurtis Imrie, from Mana, are just back in the country from their most successful campaign yet, racing in the K2 1000m Olympic distance at World Cup 1 in Poznań, Poland and World Cup 2 in Duisburg, Germany.

 

World Cup racing is some of the most competitive racing on the world circuit, with countries able to enter more than one crew and, with the Olympics looming, major countries often field more than one crew as they vie for selection.

Their performances at the World cups have sealed their selection to the World Championships in Hungary later this year.

On Friday Canoe Racing NZ named Brown and Imrie to race at the World Championships in Szeged in Hungary over 5 days from August 21 to 24.

Incidentally, Imrie's older sister Kayla was part of the Kiwi K4 team to win World Cup gold in the New Zealand Women's K4 500m alongside Lisa Carrington, Aimee Fisher and Caitlin Ryan. That same four has also been selected for the upcoming World Championships.

In Poland in World Cup 1 competition Brown and Imrie placed sixth in the K2 1000m and progressed to the semifinals. The young New Zealand crew stopped the clock in 3:17.201 behind the powerhouse heat winners from Germany (3:12.773).

On their senior international debut the duo, who are also great friends, stopped the clock in 3:14.863 to finish second, just 0.068 behind semifinal victors Denmark.

"This is a very special moment for both Kurtis and I to make our first A Final at an open World Cup," Brown said after the semifinal performance in an interview with Canoe Racing New Zealand writer Steve Landells.

"We really trusted the process in our race plan that Fred [Loyer, their coach] and the two of us have worked on together and, I guess, we nailed it. The outcome is we made the A Final and we are hungry to give it a good nudge."

Imrie was similarly delighted.

"I'm pretty happy with the race. We focused on the third 250m to keep the boat running and to make sure the other boats didn't make too much ground. It was then just a case of working together. We are both not the strongest K1 paddlers, but together as a team we can be fast."

The pair proved two of the breakout New Zealand performers in Poznan and completed their men's K2 1000m assault by placing eighth in the A Final in 3:15.790.

The young duo made a rapid start and were in medal contention for the first third of the race. However, perhaps understandably their vastly more experienced rivals prevailed in the latter stages with the German pair of Max Hoff and Jacob Schopf striking gold in 3.09.426.

It was hugely impressive display from the Kiwi pair to qualify for the A Final and their success provides a huge boost to elite men's kayaking in New Zealand.

On the opening day of the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup 2 in Duisburg, the rising Kiwi combination again advanced to the K2 1000m semifinals with a solid paddle.

In good conditions on the Wedau Regatta Course, Brown and Imrie made an aggressive start and the duo hit the 500m checkpoint in second spot narrowly behind the Canadian pair of Brian Malfesi and Vincent Jourdenais.

During the second half of the race the Kiwi pairing slipped position but crossed the line sixth to bank an automatic qualification spot for the K2 1000m semifinal in a time of 3:25.402. In a tight heat, less than two seconds covered the first six crews with Canada taking top spot in 3:23.411.

However, the pair could not quite repeat their heroics from their World Cup campaign in Poznan, when the duo produced a huge, breakthrough performance by finishing eighth in the A Final, but they again competed positively.

In Duisburg, the pair attacked the B Final with typical aggression and led at 250m before hitting the halfway checkpoint in third. They eventually crossed the line eighth in 3:14.412 as Lithuania (3:10.610) claimed victory.

By Iain Hyndman
Whanganui Chronicle 19/6/19