Canoe Sprinters Through to Semis

NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) athletes Riley Fitzsimmons and Ella Beere are through to the semi finals of their respective events at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

In the men’s K4 500m, Fitzsimmons along with Pierre van der Westhuyzen, Jackson Collins and Noah Havard went from the heats to the quarter-finals, where they set an Olympic best time of 1:19.39.

In doing so, the K4 500 crew advanced to the semi-finals on Thursday 8 August and avoided the chaos of the photo finish for second to fourth between New Zealand, Denmark and Canada.

Fellow NSWIS athlete Ella Beere, along with Aly Bull, Alexandra Clarke and Yale Steinepreis in the women’s K4 500m placed outside of the three fastest nations in their heat, coming in fourth with a time of 1:34.60 that sees them lineup for the semi-finals on Thursday 8 August.

“Our start was good,” Yale said. “We definitely need to find a way to keep the tempo up through the transition and our back end wasn’t too bad. Lots of learnings to take into the semis.”

In the women’s K2 500m Beere and Aly Bull are through to the semi-finals and the world champions from the Netherlands have been eliminated.

Ella Beere and Aly Bull finished second-fastest in the quarter-finals, in a time of 1:41.39, and come Friday 9 August they’ll compete in the semis.

Article courtesy of AOC