Maggie Hogan was just over a second short of grabbing a medal in the K1 1000m at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup in Montemor, Portugal on Saturday as she finished fourth in 4:11.8, 1.16 seconds shy of the third place finisher. Hogan was the only American to advance to a final A on the first day of the event. Also competing for a medal were Ian Ross and Gavin Ross in the final of the Men’s C2 200m (the only race in the class all weekend). They finished eighth of eight in 45.08 and 3.3 second behind the bronze.

In other events wrapping up on Saturday…
Men’s K1 1000m: Shawn Kaho’okele finished eighth in the final B in a time of 3:48.6, his best time of the weekend.
Women’s K1 200m: Emily Wright finished ninth in the final B in 44.868. The final was close with only 1.4 seconds separating first and last.
Men’s K2 1000m: Christopher Miller and Stanton Collins finished fifth in the final B with a time of 3:28.9, their best time of the weekend and better than several racers in the final A.

In other events starting on Saturday…
Men’s K1 200m: Kaho’okele was eliminated in his heat when he finished eighth in 42.43. He needed a top seven finish to advance to the semifinals and missed it by 1.34 seconds.Timothy Hornsby did advance to the semifinals with a fifth place finish in his heat in 39.5. Hornsby gave it a good run in the semifinals and came up one spot short of advancing to the final A when he finished fourth in 38.18. He was 0.8 seconds away from qualifying for the final A but will have to settle for participating in the final B on Sunday.
Men’s C1 200m: Ian Ross was eliminated in his heat after finishing eighth in 47.02. Ross needed a top seven finish to advance to the semifinals and missed it by 0.6 seconds. Benjamin Hefner did advance with a sixth place finish (out of six) in his heat in 50.15. Hefner was eliminated in the semifinals when he finished eighth and missed out on the “best time” spot in the final B by over two seconds after posting a time of 47.19.
Men’s K1 500m: Timothy Burdiak finished sixth in his heat in 1:57.30 to reach the semifinals but finished eighth in his semifinal despite improving to a 1:54 flat time. Burdiak was the fastest eighth place finisher by over two and a half seconds so he will take part in the final B on Sunday.
Men’s C1 500m: Gavin Ross and Ian Ross both advanced from their heats to the semifinal. Gavin was seventh in his heat in 2:18.452, 3.5 seconds clear in the final direct qualifying spot. Ian was sixth in his heat in 2:07.42 but only 0.8 seconds ahead of the ninth place finisher who was eliminated. Neither man advanced from the semifinal with Gavin finishing eighth and Ian ninth in 2:31.66 and 2:54.44 respectively. There was 21 seconds between Gavin and the next finisher ahead of him.
Women’s K1 500m: Ariel Farrar-Wellman finished sixth in her heat in 2:18.51 as she automatically qualified for the semifinals while Hogan did the same in her heat with a third place finish in 2:10.32. Farrar-Wellman was eighth in her semifinal in 2:11.30 but qualified for the final B as all semifinalist reached either final A or B. Hogan will also be in final B after finishing fifth in her heat in 2:05.26. Hogan was over six seconds behind the final qualifier for the final A. This is the event Hogan will be competing in during the Olympics.
Men’s C2 1000m: Ian Ross and Gavin Ross finished sixth in 5:10.59, over 30 seconds behind the fifth place duo, but had an automatic spot in the semifinals. They were much stronger as expected in the semifinals but their 4:00.74 time was only good enough for fifth and they missed out on the final spot by five seconds.
Men’s K4 1000m: Kaho’okele, Burdiak, Collins, and Miller finished their heat in 3:22.98, good enough for fifth place with an automatic semifinal spot. They were about 3.5 seconds behind the final direct qualifier to the final. In the semifinal they finished fifth as well in 3:18.74. This time they were over eight seconds short of qualifying for the final.

There are several finals on Sunday that will take place without having had any previous races this weekend. Miller and Collins as well as Aaron Mullican and Kaho’okele will compete in the men’s K2 500m while the K4 team of  Kaho’okele, Burdiak, Collins, and Miller compete in the men’s K4 200m. Mullican and Burdiak will take part in the men’s K1 5000m while Gavin Ross competes in the men’s C1 5000m. Finally Hogan competes in the women’s K1 5000m.

Previous ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup Coverage:
Montemor Preview
Friday Update

Maggie Hogan opened her competition at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup in Montemor, Portugal on the right foot as she finished second in her five-woman heat to reach Saturday’s final in the K1 1000m. Hogan was 1.07 seconds behind the heat winner as she finished in 4:16.39.

In the men’s K1000m Shawn Kaho’okele advanced to the semifinals finishing seventh in his heat with a time of 3:58.94 while Timothy Burdiak was eighth in his heat in a time of 3:58.18 and was eliminated. Kaho’okele needed a top three finish in his semifinal to reach the final A and finished seventh in 4:08.79 to fall into final B.

In the men’s C1 1000m Ian Ross advanced to the semifinals with a seventh place finish in his heat in 4:16.82. Needing to finish top three in those semifinals to reach the final Ross was close in a time of 4:30.33 but finished fourth, 1.2 seconds behind the final qualifier.

In the final solo event on Friday Ariel Farrar-Wellman and Emily Wright both qualified for the semifinals of the women’s K1 200m. Farrar-Wellman was sixth in her heat in 49.288 to grab a semifinal spot while Wright was sixth in 47.664 in her heat to advance. Competing in separate semifinals Farrar-Wellman and Wright each finished eighth with the fourth through seventh place finishers going to the final B. The best eighth place finisher would also advance and that was Wright who finished in 47 flat compared to Farrar-Wellman’s 49.08.

Wright and Farrar-Wellman teamed up in the K2 200m and finished seventh in their heat in 43.6 as they were guaranteed a semifinal spot. They finished fifth in the semifinal in 44.68 and were eliminated as only the top three advanced, the final spot being a second ahead of them. In the men’s K2 200m Aaron Mullican and Burdiak were eliminated in the heat after finishing eighth and missing out on the best time spot by over four seconds with a time of 40.96 while Christopher Miller and Stanton Collins advanced with a time of 36.57 and a seventh place finish in their heat. Miller and Collins were eliminated in the semifinals when they finished eighth in 36.63. The race was very competitive as they were just 1.1 seconds behind the final qualifier in third place.

Miller and Collins also took part in the K2 1000m where they advanced to the semifinals with a fifth place finish in 3:45.86. They missed out on a spot in the final A by over six seconds but finished fifth in the semifinals in 3:45.92 to reach the final B.

In addition to those in the finals on Saturday several Americans will be beginning their competitions. Ross and Gavin Ross are competing in the C2 200m which begins directly in a final. Kaho’okele and Timothy Hornsby will compete in the men’s K1 200m. The top finishers reach the final while the others have semifinals on the mind.

In the men’s C1 200m Ian Ross and Benjamin Hefner will face the same situation with only the top finisher advancing straight to the final while Burdiak sees that scenario in the men’s K1 500m and Hogan and Farrar-Wellman see it in the women’s version.

Gavin Ross and Ian Ross both compete in the C1 500m where the top three reach the final and the others have a single semifinal to aim for and they face the same scenario together in the C2 1000m. Kaho’okele, Burdiak, Collins, and Miller all team up in the K4 1000m where they’ll need a top three finish to reach the final or will be looking at a semifinal berth.

Previous ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup Coverage:
Montemor Preview

After having just two athletes compete through the first two events of the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup the US has a much larger presence at the third and final stop of 2016 in Montemor, Portugal. Action gets underway on Friday and continues through Sunday.

Maggie Hogan, who will be competing for the US at the Olympics in Rio in K1 500m, will be competing on Friday in the K1 1000m. Hogan will take part in a five-woman heat where the top three go directly to Saturday’s final and the next three will advance to the semifinals later on Friday. In the K1 1000m men’s competition Shawn Kaho’okele and Timothy Burdiak will compete. Only the top finisher in each heat reaches the final so both will likely reach semifinals later in the day.

In the men’s C1 1000m Ian Ross will compete for the Us with the top three into the final and a semifinal taking part later in the day as well. It is the only canoe event of the day. The only other solo event on Friday is the women’s K1 200m where Ariel Farrar-Wellman and Emily Wright will take part. This is an event where only the top finisher advances directly to the final so later in the day semifinals are likely.

In the men’s K2 200m the US has two teams competing, Christopher Miller and Stanton Collins as well as Aaron Mullican and Burdiak. This event qualifies three to the final with a single semifinal held later in the day on Friday. The women’s K2 200m has the same advancement scenarios with Wright and Farrar-Wellman competing.

The final event of the day is the men’s K2 1000m where Miller and Collins will compete again. This one qualifies just one straight to the final with the Saturday semifinal a more likely destination.

Previous ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup Coverage:
Racice Recap

Timothy Hornsby advanced to the semifinals of the K1 200m on Saturday at the ICF Canoe Sprint World in Racice, Czech Republic but was unable to secure a spot in any of the three finals. Hornsby finished sixth of the seven participants in his heat, grabbing the last spot to move into the semifinals. Hornsby finished his heat in 36.528, just about a second ahead of the seventh place finisher. In the semifinals Hornsby finished eighth of the nine competitors in 39.139 and was eliminated. He would have needed to have one of the three best times of the competitors who finished outside the top six in the four semifinals but was about 0.7 seconds short of that mark.

The ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup season wraps up in Montemor, Portugal next weekend starting on Friday.

Previous ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup Coverage:
Racice Preview
Friday Update

Lydia Keefe Sampson advanced to the semifinals of the C1 200m on Friday at the ICF Canoe Sprint World in Racice, Czech Republic but was unable to secure a spot in the single final. Sampson finished seventh of nine competitors in her heat with a time of 54.074 to grab the last automatic spot into the semifinals. Sampson needed a top three finish in the semifinals to advance to the only final being held on Saturday but finished sixth in 52.140.

Timothy Hornsby will begin competition in the K1 200m on Saturday with a heat and likely semifinal. Hornsby has a good chance to make one of the three finals being held in the event on Sunday.

Previous ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup Coverage:
Racice Preview

Lydia Keefe Sampson and Timothy Hornsby will be competing for the US in the second of three ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup events as the action moves to Racice, Czech Republic this weekend. Sampson, who was eighth in Final B of the C1 200m last week will be taking part in the same event this weekend with a heat and semifinal on Friday. Hornsby will compete in the K1 200m which does not begin until Saturday.

Previous ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup Coverage:
Duisburg Recap

Lydia Keefe Sampson finished eighth in the Final B of the C1 200m race on Saturday at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup in Duisburg, Germany. Sampson only finished ahead of one competitor who did not start but put up a better time on Saturday, 52.314, than her semifinal run on Friday.

The second of three ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup event is in Racice, Czech Republic next weekend starting on Friday.

Previous ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup Coverage:
Duisburg Preview
Friday Update

Lydia Keefe Sampson only defeated two competitors in her two C1 200m races on Friday at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup in Duisburg, Germany. That meant Sampson was slotted into the Final B that will take place on Saturday. Sampson opened in the heat round by finishing sixth of seven competitors in a time of 52.188. Sampson was 4.426 behind the winner who had pulled away from the field. Sampson finished her semifinal in a time of 53.357 which left her out of the automatic qualifying positions for the Final B but she was able to grab the last spot in the final on best time of those not qualified. Even if she had finished in her heat time she still would have been well short of qualifying for the Final A.

Previous ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup Coverage:
Duisburg Preview