Rotorua 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 Wellerbrucke section of the Otztaler Ache River. His time of 56.92secs, outside his record 55.84secs 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 title 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. He finished third, 1.46secs behind his compatriot.
Sutton's younger brother Jamie was ninth, 4.20secs behind.
"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," 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."
