Canoe Focus Winter 2017 | Page 36

36
37
>>
©Kim Jones
Q: What were your 2017 targets, and would
you say you have achieved your year’s
goals or maybe even exceeded them?

M: “I am not really someone that has outcome
related targets. I think that canoeing is one of
those sports when you can be in your best form
ever and if it just doesn’t come out on the one
run that matters and that’s it, your race is over.
“I cannot speak to whether the other competitors
after me where affected by the time I did
but I was really happy to have done that run
and come away with the result I did.” “For my 2017 season I was hoping to build on
last year and keep aiming to get as close to my
plan the whole way down as possible. I had the
opportunity to do this in both my boats having
made the team for the first time in K1 and that
really helped giving me more chances to do this and
learn from every run. I would definitely say that I
have far exceeded what I would have been hoping
for this year, to come away with both C1 World
titles and three 4th place finishes in K1 is crazy!”
Q: The British squad spent a good amount
of time out in Pau - learning the course, how
important was that and did it reflect in the
standard of paddling produced by British
athletes in this year’s World Championships?

M: “We did, I think we had about five and a half
weeks out there in total including the race lead
in. As a team I think we really embraced this
opportunity, and took every chance we could to
learn and understand the course out in Pau, which
is not one of the easiest places to paddle.
philhutchinsonphotography.net/ / Phil Hutchinson
philhutchinsonphotography.net/ / Phil Hutchinson
“I think this showed with the number of really
good runs produced by our athletes, including
winning the qualification rounds of 3/4 classes we
competed in alongside Fiona also wining the Semi-
Final in the women K1. I think it was a really good
incentive by the team and something that I believe
is really useful for the athletes to be in a good a
state as possible when sitting on the start line.”
canoephotography.com / Balint Vekassy (ICF)
Q: Next year’s World Championships is in
Rio, where British Slalom paddlers had a
successful time in 2016, do you think this
can continue in 2018 with the strength
of British paddlers at the moment?

M: “Yes, I think we have really good strength in
depth across all our classes, with all the senior
boats easily capable of finaling at a senior level
and this is only getting stronger. We are all building
off this as a team and pushing for better and
better results as the races go on, so I can’t wait
to see what we do at the Worlds next year.”
Q: From the World Championships came your
nomination for BT Sport Action Woman of
the Year 2017, how proud of you to receive
the nomination and does it say something
for the recognition of canoeing?

M: “I am so happy to have received the nomination,
I have had a really good year and for this to come
out on top of that is amazing! It is great for both
me and the sport to be recognised, it allows me to
show off the sport and how great it is and hopefully
get more people involved, alongside hopefully
allowing more people to see the success we have
within our sport and the amazing sportsmen and
women that do amazing things on a regular basis!”
Q: Looking ahead to 2018, are you hoping
to make that two time World Champion
or would you say it is more about looking
at your performances on the water?

M: “Of course that would be amazing, but it’s the
nature of our sport that anything can happen on the
day. There are so many factors both in and out of
your control that you just have to focus on what you
can control, the processes of how you get yourself
into a position to be able to put it all out there and
do the best run you could have done on that day.”
This is sometimes quite difficult when there is the
noise of the crowd and the commentary letting you
know what’s going on during every second of the
runs of every competitor before you. Going off first
eliminates this added distraction and allows you to
be fully focused on yourself, this massively helped
me out as I am quite observant and tend to hear
the commentary and read in to it, this is something
that I will definitely be working on in the future.