Three medals from two weekends of World Cup racing, including a standout paracanoe result, marks a strong start to the international season for New Zealand's canoe sprint paddlers.
The squad competed at back-to-back ICF World Cup regattas in Szeged, Hungary and Brandenburg, Germany, with Aimee Fisher leading the results. In Szeged, Fisher claimed silver in the WK1 500m in an exceptionally close finish against Australian Natalia Drobot. She came back the following weekend in Brandenburg and left no room for doubt, storming home in tricky paddling conditions to take gold in the same event.
The other big result came from Finn Murphy in the paracanoe. Competing at just his third international event, Murphy finished in a deadheat for second place with Brazil's Miqueias Elias Rodriguez in the KL3 200m to claim silver at the Brandenburg World Cup.
He had been solid throughout the regatta, placing second in his heat and winning his semifinal before stepping up for the A Final. "Going into the A Final, I felt like I'd figured out the processes I needed to execute three good races," he says. "Looking back, I probably executed the semifinal even better than the final. My start wasn't quite as clean, but by the 100m mark I knew where I stood relative to the guys beside me, and I was ahead of both of them."
Murphy described digging deep over the closing stretch. "From there it was just a matter of holding on. With 50 metres to go it started to get really hard, but it's amazing how, when you know you're doing well, you can tap into an extra energy source."
The result caught even Murphy himself off guard. "When I looked up at the scoreboard and saw I'd won silver, I was chuffed," he says. "I felt like I'd executed the race well and I was stoked with how it went, but I'd definitely surprised myself."
Elsewhere, Quaid Thompson posted top-ten finishes in the MK1 5000m at both venues, and the women's K4 crew of Olivia Brett, Greer Morley, Fisher and Lucy Matehaere reached finals at both regattas. The men's K4 of James Munro, Kurtis Imrie, Hamish Legarth and Grant Clancy finished 18th in Szeged and 13th in Brandenburg, while Peter Cowan rounded out the paracanoe contingent with fifth in the MVL3 200m in Brandenburg.
