Australia’s Canoe sprint Olympians return to action tomorrow for Grand Prix 3 at the Regatta Centre with a star-studded field assembled for the three-day event.
Headlining the 2013 event will be London Olympic K4 1000 champions Tate Smith (QLD), David Smith (QLD), Murray Stewart (NSW) and David Smith (QLD), with the quartet excited to be back in action and looking forward to a big 2013.
Racing will start on Friday morning with the men’s K11000 and women’s K1500 heats.
The men K11000 event promises to be fiercely competitive with K4 stars Murray Stewart and Jacob Clear set to battle it out with Sweden gun Anders Gustafsson for line honours, with the Swede coming off a fifth place finish at the London Olympic Games.
Currumbin Creek veteran Ken Wallace leads a list of challengers after impressing at the Oceania Championships in New Zealand a fortnight ago, winning six events.
Three of those victories came in a K2 alongside Lachlan Tame, another exciting young paddler who will be one to watch this weekend.
Tame and Wallace will also combine in the K2 1000 event with the duo looking to continue their red hot New Zealand form.
The women’s K1500 heats will follow on Friday morning with Western Australian Alana Nicholls back on track and out for Olympic redemption after a disappointing London campaign.
On Saturday, Australia’s 200m specialists will get their chance to hit the water with Carrington, Nicholls and NSWIS paddler Jo Brigden-Jones among the favourite to post a winWestern Australian Steve Bird, Manly Warringah’s Murray Stewart, emerging paddlers Lachlan Tame and Nick Dawe, and Gold Coast’s Joel Simpson will fight out the K1 200 title.