The World Championships 2009 for canoe slalom are over for Cook Island paddler Ella Nicholas and she will now focus on university and her goal of getting into medical school, when she returns to NZ this week from Spain.
Ella placed 52nd from the 71 strong field, it was a good result for Ella in her first year out of junior competition. Racing with Olympic medalists and previous world champions didn’t phase her too much and is all part of the experience and development as she builds up to qualifying for London 2012.
Many top paddlers were denied good results with errors on the speedy, technical course, including New Zealand Olympian Luuka Jones who finished 59th.
Once the University year is over Ella will train fulltime before competing in the Australian National and Oceania Championships in January and February respectively.
“My focus has been on fitness and gym work as it is difficult paddling in Dunedin because of lack of venue to paddle, cold weather and I don’t have a coach there. It will be great to get home to Tauranga and spend the summer building up to next seasons racing”
CISNOC would like to acknowledge Ian Mercer and his team for the excellent campaign to build a strong athlete in this field.
Last Modified on 09/01/2010 12:24