Canoe slalom: Bay paddlers thrive on world stage

Jane Nicholas (left), Haylee Dangen and Kelly Travers claimed under-23 C1 team bronze behind Russia and Great Britain. Photo/File

New Zealand are celebrating their best performance at the Junior and Under-23 Canoe Slalom World Champs held on the Sydney 2000 Olympic course.

The 18-strong team, including 14 paddlers either originating from or living in Tauranga, saw 350 athletes from 33 countries competing in the event which was being held in Australasia for the first time.

The five-day competition combined the age groups and classes of K1 (kayak double ended paddle), C1 (canoe, kneeling with single bladed paddle) for men and women and C2 for men over a testing series of 23 gates on the pushy white water of the artificial course.

Tauranga Boys' College students Dan Munro, 16, and Luke Robinson, 17, who last year combined with schoolmates to win the silver medal at the Rafting World Champs, won New Zealand's first ever canoe slalom medals on day four of the competition by claiming silver in the C2.

Strong showings in the junior kayak added to the team's overall performance.

Bay of Plenty's Callum Gilbert qualified for the semifinal in the third fastest time, before a small slip up on the testing finals course pushed him to eighth overall.

The result was slightly disappointing for Gilbert, but is arguably New Zealand's best result in a slalom kayak following Olympian Mike Dawson's 10th placed finish at the Junior Worlds in Austria 10 years ago.

Gilbert's club mate Alex Hawthorne also had a good event with an overall 18th place finish.

The final day saw C1 take centre stage, with Ben Gibb, who won the Oceania Champs in the under-23 division earlier in the year, sneak into the semifinals on the bubble in 30th place.

A clean, solid performance pushed him up to 21st.

The junior C1 men's team finished fourth in the three-boat teams event, with James Twaite contributing the best individual performance with a 13th place finish.

Jane Nicholas was looking on target for a place in the top 10 of the under-23 C1 women's division before an error at gate 22 of the course dropped her back to 11th place.

Nicholas' disappointment was short-lived however, as teammates and fellow former Tauranga Girls' College students Kelly Travers and Haylee Dangen realised they had won bronze behind teams from Russia and Great Britain.