Brunet
proves she's favourite
Kayaker coasts to impressive victory as she prepares for Olympics
DAVE
STUBBS
The Gazette; L'agence Diapo and Canadian Sport News Contributed
to This Column
If
there was any doubt - and there should have been none - perennial
world champion Caroline Brunet has established herself absolutely
as the paddler to beat at September's Sydney Olympic Games.
The
31-year-old stroked to an almost effortless victory yesterday
in the women's K-1 500-metre kayak event at the Duisburg Regatta,
the sport's most important event after the Olympics and world
championships. It also was the final international paddling
competition before Sydney.
Brunet,
headed to her fourth Olympics, breezed home in one minute, 51.577
seconds, more than a second ahead of Italy's Josefa Idem. The
Saint-Sauveur resident, a native of Lac Beauport, now has won
six consecutive K-1 500 races, having last lost - for a bronze
medal - at this regatta two years ago.
And
true to form, Brunet wasn't around long enough to brag about
her latest feat - she caught an early flight back to Norway
to resume training.
"She
was dominant," Canadian Canoe Association high-performance
co-ordinator Graham Barton said of her race. "It was a
fast time and she actually shut it down in the last few metres."
Brunet
and Karen Furneaux of Waverley, N.S., were third in the K-2
500, behind German and Romanian crews. The Canadians were silver
medalists in this race, an Olympic event, at last year's world
championships.
The
two will remain in Europe to train for another few weeks; Brunet
is expected to return to Montreal for a few days in late July
before flying to Australia for final Olympic training.
There
was more good news yesterday on the Quebec front, as Lachine's
Marie-Josee Gibeau-Ouimet paced Canada's K-4 entry to bronze
medals in 500- and 200- metre events, paddling with Carrie Lightbound,
Julia Rivard and Kamini Jain.
And
Lac Beauport canoeist Maxime Boilard, racing in his first senior
international regatta as he continues to recover from a shoulder
injury that kept him on the shelf for five weeks, won a C-4
200-metre event. He didn't qualify for the final of the C-1
500, his Olympic event.
Reprinted with permission
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