Kiwi kayakers line up for first world cup

The K4 500m team of (from left) Kayla Imrie, Caitlin Ryan, Aimee Fisher and Jaimee Lovett have been together for only two months. Photo / Nick Reed

Some of the international big guns may be missing but New Zealand's top kayaking talent have clear goals heading into the first world cup of the season.

The seven-strong canoe sprint team begin racing on Friday night (NZT) at Montemor-o-vehlo in Portugal, the first of three world cups on consecutive weekends.

World and Olympic K1 champion Lisa Carrington heads the team, with a K4 women's boat - Caitlin Ryan, Jaimee Lovett, Aimee Fisher and Kayla Imrie - and Scott Bicknell (K1 200m) and Marty McDowell (K1 1000m) joining her.

The first world cup comes just two weeks after the European championships, with a number of European nationals sending development squads instead. That suits the likes of Bicknell, who has been given instructions from coach Richard Forbes to race the clock rather than those around him.

"We are simply looking to show an improvement," he said. "I did a 35.9sec at last year's world championships and a 35.6sec at the New Zealand nationals this year, so we're mainly focused on showing that progression in performance. If we keep chipping away at the time, the results will follow."

Just two of the nine finalists from last year's world championships will line up against Bicknell, although those two are defending world champion Mark de Jonge (Canada) and world championship bronze medallist, Spaniard Saul Craviotto.

Carrington's main rivals are also missing, including Hungarian Danuta Kozak, who pipped the 25-year-old New Zealander in last year's K1 500m decider at the world championships. The longer 500m race will be first on Carrington's programme this week, with South African Bridgette Hartley and Teresa Portela (Portugal) expected to be her main rivals.

Two members of the women's K4 boat will get an early look at the expected choppy conditions in Montemor-o-vehlo, with Fisher and Ryan combining to race the K2 500m on the opening day. The pair captured the national title earlier in the year with a shock win over Carrington and Lovett and Australians Jo Brigden-Jones and Naomi Flood, who made the final at last year's world championships.

Most interest will centre on the larger boat, however, with Imrie joining the K4 ranks for the first time this year and Canoe Racing New Zealand investing in top Danish coach Rene Olsen to run their programme.

While Carrington and paralympian Scott Martlew have been pre-selected for the world championships in Italy later this year, the other crews will need to prove their worth at the world cups.

"We've been pretty selective about the squad we've chosen and definitely have Rio de Janeiro in the back of our minds," CRNZ chief executive Mark Weatherall said. "We're looking for strong international performances, plain and simple. These crews need to prove that they are capable of reaching finals at the highest level."

Key dates:
May 15-17 - World Cup 1 (Coimbra, Portugal)
May 22-24 - World Cup 2 (Duisburg, Germany)
May 29-31 - World Cup 3 (Denmark)
August 19-23 - World championships (Milan, Italy)