New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holder Natalia Drobot has won Australia’s first medals of the Canoe Sprint international season, taking out bronze in the women’s K1 500 final and silver in the women’s K1 200 final in Szeged, Hungary overnight. After finishing second in her semi final on Friday, Drobot was eager to go from strength to strength in the A Final.

Anna Pulawska of Poland took out the gold medal, with China’s Nan Wang finishing in second place. Drobot finished in third to claim bronze, ahead of kiwi Aimee Fisher in fourth and fellow Aussie Kailey Harlen in fifth.

With World Cup 1 marking the official start to the international racing season, Drobot said she was proud to deliver a good result off the back of a solid training block leading into the event.

“I think it’s really nice to put all of the hard work into a good race and to come out with a good result.”

“It’s been a really good season so far…eight months of good, hard training with the girls and I’m just stoked to be on the podium.”

Having been a member of the Senior Australian Canoe Sprint team for World Championships in the Paris Olympic cycle, Drobot said her sights are firmly set on one goal for the next four years…LA.

“This is definitely not the end, it’s year one (of the new Olympic cycle), so it’s just the start. I’m looking forward to the next few years,” she said.

Drobot backed up her bronze medal performance to take silver in the women’s K1 200 final.

A photo finish in the semi finals saw the 20-year-old just creep through into the A Final before leaving it all on the water, crossing the line in a time of 43.98 behind Pulawska.

“It was a really fun race – nice to go pretty quick in that 200 metres,” Drobot said. “[I’m] stoked to be on the podium again, and super proud of how I’ve raced this weekend.”

“As Team Australia…I think we’ve all done really well, and we’ve built a nice, solid platform for the next regatta and for the next few years,” she added.

Drobot’s medal brings to a close the 2025 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup 1 in Hungary. The Senior Australian Canoe Sprint Team will now head to Poznan, Poland for the 2025 ICF Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Cup. They’ll be joined by their Australian Paracanoe teammates, for the regatta which gets underway from 22-25 May 2025.

Paddle Australia

Images: Paddle Photography

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