I am proud of all the US Jr and U23 Wildwater athletes who raced at Worlds at NOC! Everyone improved and by the end of the competition we were stronger, faster more aggressive athletes. Several Americans qualified for the sprint finals including Kellen Doyle Jr, C1, Ellen Osment U23 C1, Selena Popp and Hannah Rubin in C1. Will Coggan’s Classic and Sprint runs were very competitive, and his consistent training was evident every time he took to the water. Although true grit was apparent every day, no one demonstrated more true grit than Jos Coggan who fought to recover herself in her sprint run then hand paddled to the finish! The best US result was 4th place out of four in the Classic Jr Team Race in an official world championship (Jr. Team Results)
Tom Popp and Marin Millar deserve tremendous thanks for organizing the team, and for setting up the US team races to our best advantage. Marin did a fine job ordering team uniforms, which are practical and presentable. The organization of the event was efficient so that we could concentrate on coaching and racing. Chris Hipgrave should not have to buy himself a drink in a very long time after all the work he did in preparation for this event. Chris Osment and Chris Norbury did a great job along with the whole NOC crew. Karla Westcott was the US ICF judge on the wildwater jury
One of the highlights of this event was the opportunity to meet our European counterparts and network. Many US athletes purchased boats, and the Coggans cornered the market on C1s. We received invitations from an Italian club, a French club and a Slovenian club to come over for training camps next summer. Although the team from Maine does not come from a foreign country, they came from way down east, and we enjoyed our time training and living together. It will be great to race with them again next summer.
On a different note, Nate Lord and Caroline Coggan were invited to test to be International Canoe Federation Wildwater Judges. We took the test along with Chris Norbury, Chris Osment and Mike Hyde who also passed the test. Team Colorado did a great job on and off the water!
コメント