Fournel and Cochrane upset world championship medallists at Canadian national team trials in canoe and kayak - July 17th, 2010

Fournel and Cochrane upset world championship medallists at Canadian national team trials in canoe and kayak

MONTREAL – Hughes Fournel of Dorval, Que., and Ryan Cochrane of Windsor, N.S., produced the upset of the day on Saturday at the Canadian national team and world championship trials in canoe and kayak.

Fournel and Cochrane, in their first season together, won the men’s K-2 (kayak doubles) 200 metres in 32.079 seconds stunning world championship bronze medallists Andrew Willows of Gananoque, Ont., and Richard Dober Jr., of Trois-Rivieres, Que., second in 32.287.  It was the first time in six years Willows and Dober, two-time Olympians, were beaten in the K-2 200 by a Canadian crew.

When his boat crossed the finish line first, Cochrane threw his paddle like a javelin.

“I was just so excited,” said Cochrane.  “It went back and forth really, really hard.  Beating those guys is a big accomplishment.  We were very confident going into the race.  We got our boat quicker out of the start and made the transition really quick.”

Fournel still couldn’t believe it even after being on the podium.

“We improved by leaps and bounds with every race we’ve done this year,” he said.  “For me it’s unbelievable to finish ahead of Richard and Andrew.  They are one of the biggest influences in my career.”

The day started well for Dober Jr., who won the K-1 200 in 35.46 seconds.  Willows followed in 35.50 and Fournel was third in 35.755.  Willows had finished ahead of Dober Jr., at the first trials in Montreal.

“It was a dogfight to the finish,” said Dober Jr, 29.  “It’s always that kind of race between us. Today I was the winner but I expect we’re going to continue to have close races like that until the Olympics.  The win is a big step for me because he usually wins at trials.  Today it was my turn.”

‘’It was executed pretty much perfect the whole way down,’’ said Willows, 30.  ‘’I would just like to have that second back at the end. He has no weaknesses so when I race him I have to be better than my best.’’

Officials got all the senior races in on Saturday despite a two hour thunderstorm delay and dark ominous clouds that threatened throughout the late afternoon and early evening at the Olympic basin.

Other winners on Saturday were Kia Byers of Regina in the women’s K-1 200, Richard Dalton of Halifax in the C-1 200, Steve Jorens of Candiac, Que., and Angus Mortimer of Ottawa in the K-2 1,000, Gabriel Beauchesne-Sévigny of Trois-Rivieres, Que., and Andrew Russell of Dartmouth, N.S., in the C-2 1,000, and Laurence Vincent-Lapointe of Trois-Rivières in the women’s C-1 200,

“I paddled a lot better than at the first set of trials,” said Byers, who also won at the May trials.  “I needed to be the top of my game because everyone was a lot faster this time.”

‘’We had a strong start and that really helped us,’’ said Mortimer about his decisive K-2 1,000 win with Jorens.  ‘’We relaxed after that and our race plan was to do a pick up at the 500 mark.  We kept steady.  We expected a lot ourselves from this race and we weren’t disappointed.’’

This weekend’s competition will determine the bulk of the Canadian team for the world championships next month in Poland.  The team will be announced Monday.

Competition concludes on Sunday with races starting at 8:30 a.m.

Full results at: http://www.canoekayak.ca/files/50/98/Satuday_Results__COMPLETE.pdf

Other results from this year

Archives