Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times / Sport

Third world title for kayaker Sutton

By Jamie Troughton
Bay of Plenty Times·
7 Oct, 2012 07:34 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Bay of Plenty kayaker Sam Sutton has won his third consecutive world extreme title at the adidas Sickline championships in Austria, beating 150 of the best paddlers on the planet.

The 24-year-old, whose partner Katharina Uhl is about to give birth to their first child, overcame uncharacteristic nerves on the 280m of grade five rapids down the infamous Wellerbrücke section of the Ötztaler Ache River.  His time of 56.92secs, outside his record 55.84sec set last year, was still good enough to hold off veteran Slovenian paddler Dejan Kralj, who was 0.89secs adrift.

Top qualifier and London Olympian Mike Dawson, another member of the Waiariki Academy of Sport in Rotorua, had the chance to snatch the tile as the last paddler on the course but a slight error on the bottom "Champion's Killer" rapid cost him a chance of grabbing his first title at the prestigious event, dropping him to third 1.46sec behind his compatriot.

"I was pretty sure Mike was actually going to beat me because he's probably the strongest extreme racer in the world overall but he had a bit of bad luck on that last drop," a relieved Sutton said. "I came in relatively confident but I was definitely worried - I could just picture myself finishing second as I've been second the whole way through the race this weekend. I definitely didn't want my child to be born into the world when their dad's a loser so I'm pretty happy with this result."

Kralj, at 36 one of the oldest in the field, only just made the top-48 qualifiers and just squeaked into the top-15 final, though he turned it on in the final and held the lead until Sutton's run.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A trio of Germans, Jakous Stenglein, Fabian Doerfler and Tobias Kargl, filled out the top-six, while Sutton's younger brother Jamie was ninth, 4.20secs behind his older sibling.  Olympic whitewater slalom bronze and silver medalists Hannes Aigner and Vavra Hradilek were eighth and 13th respectively.

The Sickline title remains the only major extreme crown Dawson has yet to win, despite second placings in 2009 and 2011 and now a third, though his disappointment was again tempered by Sutton's performance.

"No-one wants to come second or third but I'm stoked to be standing on the podium with some of my really good mates," the 26-year-old said. "If I was to finish second or third to anybody, it would be Sam and Dejan and to see Sam on top of the podium three times in a row is amazing."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

And despite the fearsome rapids, the Tauranga-raised Rotorua resident found the event thoroughly relaxing after his Olympic campaign, where he finished 15th in the slalom.

"The Olympics is a whole different level of event - it's huge, it's got  so much following, so much media and crowd and for me now to come here or to any other event is easy to stay relaxed and confident and that's something I've brought into this. It's almost like a little bit of a holiday to get back in the boat and back to racing and just enjoying being on the water again."

Sutton admits his latest title was the toughest yet, though he's already looking forward to having a crack at four in a row.

"It's probably the most difficult victory for me because I just wasn't feeling great and it's probably the highest level of competition we've ever had here," Sutton said. "It's also a slalom Olympic year, so everybody is extremely fast and to top it off, we probably had the strongest field ever.

Sutton paid tribute to his training buddies back at Okere Falls near Rotorua, crediting them for helping him continue his dominance.

"There's probably three dudes in New Zealand that could beat me and I'll probably go home to Okere Falls and race with a friend of mine on Wednesday and he'll probably beat me. I don't know what's up with New Zealand but it's just an extremely competitive environment and if you can win a race back home, you can probably win any international race."

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Bay of Plenty Times

New home for Tauranga netball: $14m Baypark plan progresses

Bay of Plenty Times

Baywide rugby: Whaka look to break 19-year drought

Bay of Plenty Times

Netball: Magic narrowly lose to Pulse after scores still tied in final minutes


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

New home for Tauranga netball: $14m Baypark plan progresses
Bay of Plenty Times

New home for Tauranga netball: $14m Baypark plan progresses

The new facility will include a new building plus 14 asphalt and nine cushioned courts.

14 Jul 07:00 PM
Baywide rugby: Whaka look to break 19-year drought
Bay of Plenty Times

Baywide rugby: Whaka look to break 19-year drought

14 Jul 05:17 AM
Netball: Magic narrowly lose to Pulse after scores still tied in final minutes
Bay of Plenty Times

Netball: Magic narrowly lose to Pulse after scores still tied in final minutes

14 Jul 04:28 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP