Long and Lucien in Penrith Open photo finish

The most exciting race of the Penrith Open was saved until the final day of competition as two New South Wales Institute of Sport athletes, Merle Long (main picture) and Lucien Delfour, finished first and second in the men’s Kayak Cross final in a photo finish.

American-born Long prevailed as the champion ahead of Delfour in one of the biggest victories in his young career. 

“I had a blast,” said Long. “It’s always pretty fun when there’s a photo finish towards the end. All the way from the start to the end, Lucien [Delfour] and I were fighting together – I just got the ball this time. 

“To have this result, I did alright in the slalom (K1) and to do well in the kayak cross for the first selection race is definitely foreign to me. I’m very pumped with the result but it doesn’t mean I’m going to stop. I’m going to bring this head-to-head mentality into the next weekend.” 

Delfour (pictured below) added another silver medal to his collection this weekend with the kayak cross result today. With not a lot of kayak cross training coming into this weekend, he is extremely pleased with the result. 

“It was extremely tight today. We had some good competition, especially with the Czechs – they’re always pretty sharp. I did better than I expected to be honest,” he said. 

Delfour gave a lot of praise to the U23 year old rising star. 

“I’m really proud of him [Long], he’s got really good potential in the kayak cross. He’s a fighter, and he’s one of the young guns,” he said. “We have a really competitive group. The boys really invest a lot of time into the kayak cross and it’s really nice to see.” 

In the women’s kayak cross final, Olympic champion Noemie Fox (NSWIS) fought bravely to finish fourth in the final. Katerina Bekova (CZE) finished on top of the podium with teammate Tereza Kneblova in second and Great Britain’s Kimberley Woods in third. 

With the Australian Open coming up next weekend at Penrith Whitewater Stadium, Long is pumped to keep delivering strong results, pushing for Australia Team selection.

“I’m going to train hard this next week. I’m going to do my best in slalom (K1), best in the kayak cross and win as much as I can,” Long said.

Paddle Australia