Kayaking: Paddlers on course for Olympic form

Lisa Carrington (left) and Teneale Hatton celebrate their 1000m win at Vichy, France. Photo / Supplied

The kayaking team returned home from Europe this week flummoxed by the lack of speed of their "flagship" boat, but buoyed by the performance of two potential stars of the sport.

Teneale Hatton and Lisa Carrington, who have been paddling together for a year, won a gold medal in the K2 1000m in Vichy, France. More significant in the long term, however, was their performance in making the 'A' final of the Olympic-class K2 500m in Vichy and Szeged, Hungary.

That has left the Paul MacDonald-coached pair confident of finishing in the top six at the world championships in Poland in August, a result that would see them qualify direct to the London Olympics. There are high hopes that they will be genuine medal contenders as early as London 2012.

"An 'A' final is on the cards, but finishing in the top six will be our ultimate goal for the worlds," said Hatton.

The 20-year-old said she and Carrington had surpassed their expectations during the month-long campaign, particularly the golden effort at Vichy, because they were still bedding in some new techniques.

With two distinct paddling styles, they have worked on changes to bring themselves more into line with each other. That has enabled them to get better "boat run", though like any change it has taken some getting used to.

Hatton and Carrington, who come from surf lifesaving backgrounds at Orewa and Mt Maunganui respectively, are still relative novices to the competitive world of kayaking and the buzz around the sport in Hungary.

"It's huge, the crowd there is so loud you can't hear yourself," Hatton said.

If the women were the success story of the world cup campaign, the men's K2 were somewhere at the other end of the scale.

In Vichy, Steven Ferguson and Troy Burbidge qualified for the 'C' final only. That could in part be due to the unique swollen river conditions in France, but at Szeged they again missed the 'A' final, though will take some solace in winning the 'B' final.

Still, their form is clearly vexing Canoe Racing New Zealand. A report written by high-performance manager Wayne Maher indicated they had not lived up to expectations as a K2.

"Picked as our flagship boat for 2010, Burbidge and Ferguson have been struggling to find their combination and rhythm during their time here in Europe," the report said.

"The boat they've been using has required alterations and tweaking to suit the height and weight of Steve in the boot without compromising the integrity of the boat design and how it runs in the water.

"By their own admission it's been a difficult tour as they've battled to find form."

The news was better in the nascent men's K4. After a disastrous no-show at Vichy last month, they rebounded to make the 'A' final in their 'debut' world cup race at Szeged.

The team leaves for the world champs in Poznan, Poland, at the end of next month. They will have a three-week lead-in to the champs.

* CRNZ chief executive Paula Kearns said she was still waiting to see a detailed high-performance plan and budget from Ben Fouhy before she could sign it off. An associate of the Olympic silver medallist said it was not far away, but stressed it was absolutely vital to get everything right before making the comeback official.