Top paddlers have Sydney strokes down pat
CANADIAN WHITEWATER CHAMPIONSHIPS
Ford, Langford, Cartwright pick up gold
in final competition before Olympics

SHAWNA RICHER
The Globe and Mail
Monday, August 7, 2000

Ottawa -- With their Olympic berths locked up long ago, the country's three top paddlers fine-tuned their race routines at the Canadian whitewater canoe and kayak championships over the weekend, scoring some nifty gold medals along the way.

Canadian Olympic team members David Ford of Edmonton, Margaret Langford of Lions Bay, B.C., and James Cartwright of North Vancouver, B.C., won gold medals on Saturday.

It was the final competition for all three before the Sydney Olympic Games next month.

Ford, the reigning world champion, won the men's K-1 final with a two-run time of 2 minutes 41.36 seconds. He hit only one of 25 gates on the 250-metre natural course. He qualified for the Sydney Games by winning the 1999 world championships in Spain.

In the women's K-1, Langford won her sixth Canadian title, in 3:00.98.

Cartwright won two gold medals, placing first in the C-1 and teaming with Larry Norman of Ottawa for first place in the C-2.

Both Langford and Cartwright qualified for the Olympics at trials in March on the Chilliwack River in British Columbia, their home province.

So while there was little practical pressure attached to Saturday's competition, the personal push to excel is ever present.

The rushing river course offered a tiny corner of wilderness off a busy bridge that links Ottawa and Hull. Several hundred spectators descended a steep wooden staircase and perched on boulders along the bucolic course, lined with thick forest and ending inside a dark tunnel.

When Ford pushed off, a loud cheer rose from the crowd, and with good reason. It is obvious even to someone lacking a deep knowledge of competitive kayaking that he is simply that much better -- faster, stronger and more precise in his paddling -- than the rest of the field. Ford finished 15th in the Atlanta Games in 1996 and will be looking to better that effort by a huge margin.

But for a first-time Olympian such as Cartwright, the nationals were an important race to prove to the country that he deserves to be heading to Sydney.

"It's good practice for the Olympics, so it's a good chance to simulate the whole thing," he said. "This doesn't affect me going to the Olympics, but there's a lot of prestige on the line. There's pressure on me to come through and be on top in Canada. You don't want people thinking 'Why's he going?' if you don't do well at nationals."

But for Olympic veterans Ford and Langford, who are three-time participants in Olympic Games, the nationals were simply the final competition before the Australia event and a chance to experience a small amount of the hype they will see at the Olympics.

"Both of those guys will take advantage of this as a competitive setting," said Sheryl Boyle, the team's high-performance director. "The media experience is also big. This is probably the most media they will meet before Sydney. It comes in two waves. This makes a good run-through for race preparations there."

Boyle said Langford has never been so ready for an Olympics. Langford placed fourth in the women's K-1 last month at the World Cup whitewater slalom final in Augsburg, Germany, her best finish this season, less than a second out of a medal position.

"Margaret's racing really well," Boyle said. "In fact, I've never seen a race plan as good as she has right now, and I was on the team with her for 10 years. Then, I could see there were places for Margaret to improve, and, psychologically, I'd feel I had an advantage. Now, if I was a competitor, no chance. She's really got it worked out. She's full on right now. As good as it gets."

For 24-year-old Cartwright, the anticipation of the Games has caused plenty of jitters.

"It's hard to know what it's going to be like, but I'm excited and a little bit nervous," he said. "I spent a lot of time there training this winter to prepare myself for it. Hopefully, when I get there, the imagining it will have prepared me a bit. I'm trying to stay sane and not get too freaked out."

"He's going to get his eyes opened," Langford said with a smile. "He's a very talented paddler, but he doesn't have any idea what awaits him there. You're competing on a course that's in a stadium surrounded by thousands of people. It's not like this."

Canada is considered a world paddling power, thanks mostly to triple world kayak champion Caroline Brunet of Lac-Beauport, Que., considered to be one of Canada's top hopes for a medal.

Langford, too, is hungry for a medal after placing eighth at the Atlanta Olympics, falling from first place after being penalized for touching a gate. She agrees with Boyle that she is readier than ever.

"I think part of it comes with years racing where I finally feel I'm reaching my peak," she said. "I've figured out a few things. It's about having the confidence sitting on the start line, knowing you can put it all together. What I've got going for me is this is my third Olympics. You can try and simulate it, but there's nothing that's going to count for anything other than being there. It's completely different than a world championship or a World Cup race."

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