The Paddler Magazine Issue 61 Late Summer 2021 | Page 75

Bradley Forbes-Cryans made a strong start to his Olympic Games debut after finishing in 13th place during the heats for the men ’ s K1 .
Coached by two-time Olympic medallist Richard Hounslow , Bradley finished in sixth place in the final . Bradley looked strong off the back of a successful semi-final performance and blazed through the first gates .
But lost time in between gates 4 and 5 , as well as a penalty awarded late after his run , meant he put himself in top three with four boats to go , eventually finishing in sixth place .

Sprint

Fourth Olympic medal for Liam Heath with bronze in K1 200m
Liam Heath became Britain ’ s most decorated Olympic canoeist , after clinching the bronze medal in the men ’ s K1 200m .
Coached by Eric Farrell , Liam broke the Olympic record for the 200m event in the quarter-finals and secured a top three finish in the semi-finals to ensure his progression to the final .
In a tightly contested final , Liam ’ s time of 35.202 secured the bronze medal and a place on the podium .
Liam , who started paddling at Wey Kayak Club when he was 10 , was cheered on all the way in the early hours of the morning by friends and family at a watch party held at the club
After taking the K1 200m gold in Rio , alongside K2 200m silver and bronze medals with Jon Schofield in Rio and London , Liam ’ s bronze in Tokyo added a record fourth medal to further secure his status as an Olympic legend .
Speaking after securing his fourth Olympic medal Liam said : “ I am happy with where I ’ ve landed today . The race could have gone a little bit better for me but I am really happy with the medal round my neck .”
Successful Olympic debuts for sprint team
In her first Olympic Games , Deborah Kerr , made a big impact with a series of impressive performances during the competition and qualified for the A final in the women ’ s K1 200m .
In the semi-final , Deborah showed the form she ’ d been producing all season to get back amongst the leading pack during the final 100m to power across the line in first with a time of 42.742 .
A fine performance in her first Olympic final saw Deborah claim eighth place in an improved time of 40.409 .
The paddler from Strathclyde , coached by Kristina Medovcikova , also finished seventh in her semifinal of the women ’ s K1 500m to round off a brilliant Olympic debut .
Emily Lewis also made a fine Olympic debut , reaching the quarterfinals of both the women ’ s K1 200m and 500m events .
In an extremely tight race for one of two spots available to the semifinals of the K1 200m , Emily used her trademark speed out of the blocks to gain an early lead . But just 0.005 seconds separated the Worcester CC athlete from a semi-final berth .
In the women ’ s K1 500m , Emily , coached by Eric Farrell , was seventh in the heats , followed by an improved performance in the quarter-finals .
Katie Reid ( Forth ) made history by taking part in the inaugural Olympic women ’ s C1 200m event , with some strong performances in the heats and quarter finals .
The Forth paddler put down a strong time of 47.876 to finish in fourth place in the heats . In the quarter-finals , with only the top two progressing , Katie was once again in fourth place , in a slightly quicker time of 47.821 .
Katie , coached by James Train , first joined canoeing through the Girls4Gold programme in 2014 , a campaign set up through UK Sport and EIS to uncover talented female athletes .
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Canoe Focus Late Summer 2021