Hartley powers to victory in Italy

Bridgitte Hartley during the London Olympics Team South Africa Arrival on the 14 August 2012 at Or Tambo ©Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix

Bridgitte Hartley during the London Olympics Team South Africa Arrival on the 14 August 2012 at Or Tambo ©Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix

Published Aug 23, 2015

Share

Johannesburg – After not qualifying for the A Final in the women’s 500m K1, South African star Bridgitte Hartley made amends as she powered her way to victory in the B Final which helped her remain in the top 10 in the world at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Milan, Italy on Saturday.

But it was a tough day for the rest of the team who had to settle for various C Finals.

Hartley posted a time in her final that would have seen her just miss out on a medal in the A Final as she would have come home in fifth place in what was a highly competitive A final with New Zealander Lisa Carrington proving her mettle in taking the gold medal.

It proved a tough day for South Africa who were getting towards the business end of the competition, and the quality of the semi-finals and finals was always going to show over the weekend. However, along with Hartley the C Boat duo of Hosea Seleka and Phillemon Maema managed to qualify for the B Final in the Men’s C2 200m.

The pair have been up against some very tough C Boat paddlers, but manager of Team South Africa Craig Mustard has been hugely impressed by their attitudes as well as by how they have come along during the World Championships.

“It was great to Philemon and Hosea representing South Africa in the C Boat category,” Mustard said.

“Both of them have improved so much from when I first met them at the SA Championships earlier this year.

“Unfortunately this year did them no favours with it being the Olympic qualifying year and they were thrust straight Into the deep end of the sport, but with that said on and off the water these guys are great ambassadors for our country and I look forward to seeing them progress in this discipline.”

Hartley and Chrisjan Coetzee contested their respective 200m K1 semi-finals, but these proved to be a race too far as both had to settle for C Finals in this category.

Tiffany Kruger and Esti van Tonder were also in action on Saturday in their Women’s K2 200m semi-final, but the pair were unable to progress.

“It’s so exciting to see how we have improved this year with the changes to our training program,’ Van Tonder explained.

“We are really looking forward to the African Champs next year in April where we know we will be even faster than what we delivered here at these championships.”

 

Women’s 500m K1 B Final

1 Bridgitte Hartley (RSA) 1:52.461

2 Michelle Russell (CAN) 1:52.824 +0.363

3 Yvonne Schuring (AUT) 1:52.868 +0.407

 

Women’s 200m K1 Semi-Final 1

1 Marta Walczykiewicz (POL) 40.199

2 Sarah Guyot (FRA) 41.156 +0.957

3 Linnea Stensils (SWE) 41.779 +1.580

4 Bridgitte Hartley (RSA) 42.596 +2.397

 

Men’s 200m K1 Semi-Final 1

1 Mark de Jonge (CAN) 34.631

2 Ignas Navakauskas (LTU) 34.857 +0.226

3 Pawel Kaczmarek (POL) 35.171 +0.540

7 Chrisjan Coetzee (RSA) 36.482 +1.851

 

Women’s 200m K2 Semi-Final

1 Natalya Sergeyeva/Irina Podoinikova (KAZ) 38.788

2 Yue Li/Yanan Wu (CHN) 38.940 +0.152

3 Genevieve Orton/Una Lounder (CAN) 39.094 +0.306

7 Esti van Tonder/Tiffany Kruger (RSA) 41.183 +2.395

 

Men’s 200m C2 Semi-Final 2

1 Adam Lantos/Peter Nagy (HUN) 37.487

2 Nicolae Craciun/Andrea Sgaravatto (ITA) 38.364 +0.877

3 Mikhail Yemelyanov/Merey Medetov (KAZ) 38.664 +1.177

8 Hosea Seleka/Phillemon Maema (RSA) 45.381 +7.894 – sascoc.co.za

– African News Agency (ANA

Related Topics: