ICF Para Canoe World Champs, Poznan, Poland

18 May 2012

ICF Para Canoe World Champs, Poznan, Poland

Young para-kayaker Scott Martlew’s assault on the Para Canoe World Championship title ended last night in a fiery 200m battle where he placed 5th in a creditable time of 45.743, just 2.84 seconds behind Romanian winner Iulian Serban.

Scott’s Coach Leigh Barker reports:

“Scott was fast out of the blocks, the race was very tight all the way. The Romanian got clear about the 150 mark. Scott was in the next pack of four. They all went across together with only split seconds separating them. A very fast race! The Open team members postponed their training to come and cheer Scott on and were amazed at the calibre of the para athletes and the speed of the race. The conditions were rough and there was a strong tail wind which made it very choppy.”

Results:

1st - SERBAN, Iulian (Romania): 43.259
2nd - SURWILO, Mateusz (Poland): 44.299
3rd - TESTA, Andrea (Italy): 44.695
4th - FARINEAUX, Martin (France): 45.159
5th - MARTLEW, Scott (NZ): 45.743

At just 19 years of age, a full 4 years younger than the youngest paddler in the final, Scott showed great composure and courage. To be performing at this level of kayaking, just 2 years after losing his leg to necrotizing fasciitis, is nothing short of remarkable and shows the determination of this exceptional young man. CEO of Canoe Racing NZ, Paula Kearns says “I am thrilled with Scott's result at his first major international competition. This result is a good platform for Scott to build on for his future success and also gives momentum to our para canoe programme.”

He plans to continue his pursuit of the World Title, with his goal of medaling at the Para Olympics in Rio in 2016 foremost in his mind. Coach Leigh Barker says “We’re very proud of Scott – he was amazingly calm under all this pressure. 5th in the World is a great start to his international kayaking campaign. We’re looking forward to building on this and have our sights firmly set on the Olympics in four years time”.

ENDS

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