Brooke aiming for U-23 spot - September 2015

GOT YOUR BACK: Former WHS students Aiden Nossiter (left) competes with Toby Brooke on the Whanganui River. Nossiter and teammate Max Brown helped Brooke get ready for international competition.

TOKYO 2020 is the long-term goal but being home training for the summer of 2015-16 is the immediate plan for Wanganui kayaking export Toby Brooke.

The 2-metre tall 18-year-old was back home this week on break from Victoria University, with a nervous six weeks to go until the first year exams for his bachelor of science.

It has been a flat out rush to catch up with his studies, after returning from the heights of competing at Montemor-o-Velho in Portugal for the 2015 Junior and Under-23 World Sprint Championships in late July.

The Kiwi crews and individuals at Junior (Under 18) and Under 23 level did not get among the medals, but Brooke did improve his world ranking to 11th in the K1 1000m after coming second in the B final - with his 3m 44.4s finishing time shaving six seconds off his personal best.

It was also 16 seconds better than his semifinal race, where he had been unlucky to draw an outside line on the "choppy" side of the course in windy conditions.

"I was definitely on the edge of [times in] the A final," said Brooke.

"A bit of it comes down to the luck, lane draw.

"The guy that won the B final, he would have been eighth or up to sixth in the A final."

It completed a good season for the teenager after he competed in the Australian Canoe Grand Prix 3 earlier in the year.

Following on from winning K1 gold at Under 16 level at the 2014 Grand Prix 2, Brooke was second in the U18 K1 1000m, third in the K2 and victorious with the K4 crew.

He also competed with New Zealand teammates Thomas Cole, Karl McMurtrie and Alex Bristow in the K4 1000m in Portugal.

They finished with a world ranking of 16th after coming seventh in the B final.

Just making it to Portugal was a big challenge for Brooke and his Wanganui mates Max Brown and Aiden Nossiter, who had moved up from Under 18 to the New Zealand Under 23 team.

The trio had less than three months to raise around $7-8000 each to attend and their home town came through for them in spades.

"We ended up just having enough," said Brooke.

"Future Champions Trust, the Leeds Town Trust, the quiz nights and the garage sale."

Portugal completed Brooke's second full year of international competition and the young man had to credit Brown and Nossiter, who had blazed the path in Under 18s, for helping him with the transition.

He will now use those lessons as he moves up to trying to win selection for the NZ Under 23 crews himself.

"It keeps getting bigger and faster. You start off with going to Australia.

"It was a shock the first year, I'd say it affected how I kayak.

"Second year, you just prepare for it.'

Brooke knows the bar just keeps getting higher - his K1 1000 time in Portugal was 12 seconds off what the winner of the Under 23 event posted - so it is possible he may just work towards being in the K2 and K4 crews in 2016. "I want to cut that [12-second gap] in half.

"The goal would be B Final up there in Under 23s, then build from that."

From there, Brooke wants to get into the New Zealand Open team, with an eye to walking into Tokyo's stadium under the New Zealand flag.

"You've got to get there a bit before that to make Olympic selection."

Brooke will be home for the summer, rejoining Brown and Nossiter.

- Wanganui Chronicle 1/9/15