Fitzsimmons Wins Canoe Sprint Men’s K4 500 Silver

NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) athlete Riley Fitzsimmons has won a silver medal as a member of the Australian men’s K4 500 on day two of the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup in Poznan, Poland.

After missing out on qualifying for the A-Final in World Cup one in Hungary a couple of weeks ago, the quartet of Fitzsimmons, Pierre van der Westhuyzen (QLD), Jackson Collins (QLD) and Noah Havard (QLD) brought a new hunger with them into Poland, taking out their heat on Friday and semi-final on Saturday morning.

Only the returning Ukraine team could better them in the final, securing the gold 0.74 seconds ahead of the Aussies, with Denmark rounding out the podium in bronze.

Dual Olympian Fitzsimmons said this was a stand-out moment for the men’s K4 team on their journey to qualifying for the Olympics later this year.

“It was a really positive race after having a pretty disappointing first World Cup where we didn’t nail the things we wanted to,” he said.

“So we’ve been put through the wringer and come out at the second Word Cup and produced a pretty good, complete K4 event, so we’re all pretty chuffed at the moment.

“It’s Australia’s first medal in this event since it was first introduced, so it’s a positive step in the right direction for [Paris 2024 Olympic] qualification this year.”

In other final results on Day 2, Olympic Champion Tom Green narrowly missed out on a medal in the Men’s K1 1000m event, placing fourth.

Fletcher Armstrong finished third in the K1 200 B-Final while Ben Manning finished second in the C1 1000 B-Final.

There are another three medals up for grabs for the Australian Team on Sunday evening, with the K1 500, K2 500 and C1 500 in action.

With the women’s team on an altitude camp in Italy and Switzerland, and the Para team back at home in Australia, it is only the men’s team flying the Aussie flag in Poland this weekend.

Article and image courtesy of Paddle Australia