Eight young up-and-coming NSWIS paddlers have taken to the water over the weekend, contesting the World Junior and U23 Championships in Minsk, Belarus as they eye off a 2020 Tokyo Olympic berth.

The busiest of the NSWIS athletes among the two-dozen strong Aussie squad were Jakob Hammond and Simon McTavish who contested the junior boys and U23 men’s K2 1000 and K4 1000 respectively, while Ella Beere raced the junior girls K1 200 and K1 500.

Also in action was Ethan Neville in the junior boys K1 200 and Jayde Bagnall in the junior girls K4 500. Representing in the U23 women’s events were Jacqueline Green in the K1 200, and Rachel Duncan in the K4 500, as Ben McLean in the K2 200 raced in the men’s U23 category.

Highlighting the results for NSWIS and the Aussies was Beere, who raced to a strong fourth place in the K1 200 A-Final. She finished less than half a second off the bronze medal.

McTavish raced to eighth in the A Final of the U23 men’s K4 1000, as did Bagnall in the junior girls K4 500 and Duncan in the U23 women’s K4 500.

Other highlights included McLean in the junior men’s K2 200m B Final where he finished second, Hammond claimed fourth in the K4 1000 B final, while Neville raced to seventh in the junior women’s K1 200 C Final.

Meanwhile Green was unable to progress past the semi final stage of the U23 women’s K1 200.

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