The New Zealand Junior and Under-23 teams have spent the last four weeks in Europe in preparation for the Under-23 World Canoe Slalom Championships which started overnight in Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia.
Tauranga is well represented in both teams. Callum Gilbert, Luke Robinson, Daniel Munro and Haylee Dangen are in theJunior team, with Ben Gibb, Shaun Higgins, Anna Higgins and Patrick Washer in the under-23 team.
The NZ Juniors line up at the worlds after a successful build-up having competed in European Junior World Cup races at Solkan, Slovenia, and Krakow, Poland. It was a great introduction to racing for the juniors from some of the powerhouse paddling nations. Haylee Dangen won bronze and silver in Under-18 K1W while Dan Munro and Luke Robinson won bronze medals in the C2.
Following the recent World Cup and a short visit to Salzburg, the team arrived in Liptovsky Mikulas. It is a tiny town nestled in the Tatra Mountains in northern Slovakia and is home to multiple Olympic canoe slalom champions. The artificial course is fantastic with good quality white water set to challenge the best junior athletes. The new canoe club rooms and grandstand seating will add to the atmosphere.
After two weeks of quality training the team is resting and counting down the days to the race. There is a quality field of athletes and success at junior levels prove the athletes can be competitive at the senior levels, shown by Australian super star Jess Fox who won last year's junior world championships and went on to a silver medal at the 2012 Olympic Games.
