1 June 2009
Campbell Walsh, who helped Great Britain to win a gold medal in the KI team event at the canoe slalom European Championships at Holme Pierrepoint, Nottingham on Saturday, could only finish fifth in the individual event yesterday.
The Be Number 1 athlete and 2004 individual Olympic silver medallist, who was competing on his daily training course, was in vibrant mood after securing gold in the team discipline.
"What an awesome experience!" he commented. "The very last team down the river, crossing the finish line, and seeing first place on the scoreboard. Wicked!
"I almost blew it at the start by hitting the first upstream, gate 2, with my boat on entry. This is especially bad in team events, as the poles were swinging badly for Rich [Hounslow] and Huw [Swetnam]. Not knowing if they managed to clear the gate or not, I set off and did my best on the rest of the run. It flowed very well, with almost no waiting at the upstreams.
"Our tactic of not crossing-over on the last upstream worked well, as this allowed Huw to get on full-power all the way from 15 to the finish, catching up a good bit of time at the end of the run. And every vital fraction of a second was definitely needed, as we took the win by just 0.08 seconds!
"It was a super tight team race, with the top four teams separated by less than one second! It was a fantastic experience in front of a brilliant home crowd."
In the individual K1 final, Walsh was, by his own high standards, a touch off the pace, incurring no penalties but failing to claim a podium finish.
The title was won by Italy's Daniele Molmenti in a time of 92.49, while the French duo of Boris Neveu and Julien Billaut claimed silver and gold in times of 92.93 and 93.43, respectively.
Walsh finished fifth in a time of 96.13, more than three and a half seconds behind the Italian winner, while Swetnam finished eighth in 100.21 once four penalty points had been added onto his time.
Walsh, however, was magnanimous in defeat. He said: "Congrats to my buddy Molmenti form Italy, who won the title with a storming run in the final."
It was the first time that a major competition had been held in the United Kingdom for 14 years and the Be Number 1 kayaker was also full of praise for the organisers.
"The race site looked amazing!" Walsh added. "It was fantastic to see my daily training course blinged up with race-branded banners, a massive TV screen, team tents, commentary and cheering crowds. The race organisers have done a brilliant job."
