US Flatwater Sprint Team Wins 9 Gold Medals
Canoe & Kayak Magazine -
By Luke Dieker, USA Canoe/Kayak
The US team
won 24 total medals at the Flatwater Sprint Championships in Lac Beauport,
Canada.
July 11, 2005 Lac Beauport, Quebec
After an exciting weekend of racing in Lac Beauport, the US paddlers returned to
the States sporting a glamorous array of metallic hardware. The US Senior and
Junior Pan-American Championships teams? performances were excellent, as
they won nine gold medals, five silver medals and ten bronze medals. Every time
a gold medal was won, the US national anthem was played, and the athletes stood
there and proudly represented our country.
Rising superstar and 2004 Olympian Carrie Johnson (San Diego, Calif.) led the
way, winning both the K-1 (single kayak) 500 and 1000 meters. Johnson also won
silver in the K-4 (four person kayak) with teammates Susannah Stucchio (Mount
Vernon, N.Y.), Kari-Jean McKenzie (Richmond, B.C.) and Kalen Lee (Gainesville,
Ga.). Johnson rounded out her personal medal haul with a bronze in the K-1 200
meters.
One of the best finishes of the regatta was in the K-2 (double kayak) 1000
meters, where the 2004 Olympic boat of Andy Bussey (Kailua, Hawaii) and Jeff
Smoke (Buchanan, Mich.) outraced the Brazilian team of Jonaton Oliveira and
Edson
Silva to the line. Smoke and Bussey have been training very hard together, and
their efforts were rewarded this past weekend. The race was so close that it had
to be reviewed with photo finish equipment. Bussey and Smoke now set their
sights on the World Championships, where they feel their two years of work
together in the K-2 will bring them success.
Perhaps the most dominating team of the regatta was the junior K-2 team of Ann
Hollingshead (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Emily Mickle (Gainesville, Ga.). These two
young athletes swept all three distances in the event, winning the 1000 meters,
500 meters and 200 meters. Showing promise of much more to come at the senior
level, junior paddler Morgan House (Gainesville, Ga.) also had success in his
junior K-1 events, sweeping both Olympic distances of 1000 meters and 500
meters. House also
finished second in the 200 meter distance.
Rounding out the US gold medals was Kalen Lee (Gainesville, Ga.), who won the
junior K-1 1000 meters. Lee also won silver in the junior K-1 500 meters and
bronze in the K-1 200 meters. Many of the athletes who competed in the
Pan-American Championships will continue to train for the World Championships,
which will take place later this summer. The Junior World Championships are
August 5-8 in Szeged, Hungary, and the Senior World Championships are August
24-28 in Zagreb, Croatia.
Complete
US Team Results from Pan-American Championships:
Gold
Andrew Bussey (Kailua, Hawaii) and Jeff Smoke (Buchanan, Mich.) - Senior Men K-2 1000M
Carrie Johnson (San Diego, Calif.) - Senior Women K-1 1000M and Senior Women K-1 500M
Emily Mickle (Gainesville, Ga.) and Ann Hollingshead (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Junior Women K-2 1000M
Junior Women K-2 500
Junior Women K-2 200M
Morgan House (Gainesville, Ga.) - Junior Men K-1 1000M and Junior Men K-1 500M
Kalen Lee (Gainesville, Ga.) - Junior Women K-1 1000M
Silver
Carrie Johnson (San Diego, Calif.), Kalen Lee (Gainesville, Ga.), Kari-Jean McKenzie (Richmond, B.C.), Susannah Stucchio (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) - Senior Women K-4 1000M
Maia Farrar-Wellman (Washington, D.C.), Victoria Llonch (Gainesville, Ga.), Jen Burke (San Diego, Calif.), Emily Wright (Fairport, N.Y.) - Junior Women K-4 1000M
Kalen Lee (Gainesville, Ga.) - Junior Women K-1 500M
Morgan House (Gainesville, Ga.) - Junior Men K11 200M
Eric Abbott (Honolulu, Hawaii), Josh Brandsma (Hollywood, Fla.), Patrick Dolan (Kailua, Hawaii), Taran Stucchio (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) - Junior Men K-4 200
Bronze
Andy Bussey (Kailua, Hawaii), Daniel Krawczyk (Bayside, N.Y.), Jeff Smoke (Buchanan, Mich.), Brandon Woods (Kaneohe, Hawaii) - Senior Men K-4 1000M
Katie Hagler (Gainesville, Ga.) Lauren Austin (Seattle, Wash.) - Senior Women K-2 1000M
Brandon Woods (Kaneohe, Hawaii) - Senior Men K-1 1000M
Carrie Johnson (San Diego, Calif.) - Senior Women K-1 200M
Brady Bragg (Flowery Branch, Ga.), and David Petrovich (Szeged, Hungary) - Junior Men K-2 1000M and Junior Men K-2 200M
Eric Abbott (Honolulu, Hawaii), Josh Brandsma (Hollywood, Fla.), Patrick Dolan (Kailua, Hawaii), Taran Stucchio (Mount Vernon, N.Y.) - Junior Men K-4 1000M
Mia Farrar-Wellman (Washington, D.C.), Victoria Llonch (Gainesville, Ga.), Jen Burke (San Diego, Calif.), Emily Wright (Fairport, N.Y.) - Junior Women K-4 500M and Junior Women K-4 200M
Kalen Lee (Gainesville, Ga.) - Junior Women K-1 200M
USA
Canoe/Kayak, headquartered in Charlotte, NC, is the National Governing Body for
nine canoe and kayak racing sports, and is a member of the US Olympic Committee
and the International Canoe Federation. Please check their website
for US Team news and complete race results,
www.usack.org