Rubenstein medals at World Cup
30 June 2004
Shaun Rubenstein underscored his meteoric rise to the top by winning a medal in the new 3 000 metres events at the Sprint World Cup at Duisburg in Germany on the weekend.
The 20-year old from the East Rand went toe-to-toe with two legendary paddlers, Nathan Baggaley of Australia and Kiwi Ben Fouhey, both of them winners of World Championship 1 000m titles, before securing the third place in the race.
"I felt incredibly proud to get onto the podium alongside Baggaley and Fouhey", Rubenstein said afterwards. "The pace was very fast, but I was able to stay with these guys."
Sprints and endurance
Rubenstein is currently training for the marathon world championships, and his performance over the longer sprint distance of 3 000 metres is encouraging. The 3 000 metre races were recently re-introduced to sprinting to cater for the excitement and endurance demands of long distance racing at sprint events.
At
the same event, Olympian Alan van Coller raced his way into the 500m K1 A final, against a field that very closely resembles the potential Athens Olympic finalists. He was some way off his best in the race, though, and had to settle for eighth spot.
Van Coller and Rubenstein also raced into the 1000m B finals, where they picked up a second and fifth place respectively.
Big impact
Also making a big impact at the event was the South African K2 crew of Brett Bartho and Michael Arthur. Debuting at the World Cup, they caused quite a stir by making it into the K2 B finals over both 500 metres and 1 000 metres.
The combination, which rose to prominence during the domestic sprint season with some spectacular performances, has clearly announced its arrival on the international stage, and with both athletes committed to careers aimed at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, there is every reason for them to feel bullish about their results.
The
Duisburg regatta is widely regarded as the "Wimbledon of Canoeing", and provides notoriously tough competition, as it allows each nation to enter two boats into each event.
Summary Of Results
1 000m Men's K1 B final
1. Emanuel Silva (Portugal) 3:32.076
2. Alan van Coller (RSA) 3:32.619
3. Jernej Zupancic (Slovenia) 3:34.042
4. Kristaps Zalupe (Latvia) 3:34.776
5. Shaun Rubenstein (RSA) 3:35.472
1 000m Mens K2 B final
1. Gubser/Gubser (Switzerland) 3:19.084
2. Zoric/Filipovic (Bosnia Hertzogovina) 3:19.694
3. Emelyanov/Sergin (Khazakhstan) 3:21.204
4. Jazbec/Marajanovic (Slovenia) 3:21.654
5. Lewis/Woods (USA) 3:22.217
6. Puff/Flobel (Germany) 3:24.143
7. Bartho/Arthur (RSA) 3:24.600
500m Mens K1 A final
1. Erik Veras Larsen (Norway) 1:41.264
2. Nathan Baggaley (Australia) 1:41.397
3. Adam Van Koeverden (Canada) 1:41.627
4. Ian Wynne (Great
Britain) 1:43.170
5. Javier Correa (Argentina) 1:43.853
6. Michael Kolganov (Israel) 1:44.030
7. Torsten Lubisch (Germany) 1:44.407
8. Alan van Coller (RSA) 1:45.420
9. Lutz Altepost (Germany) 1:46.710
500m Mens K2 B final
1. Hristov/Yordanov (Bulgaria) 1:35.421
2. Puff/Eckbrett (Germany) 1:36.061
3. Gubser/Gubser (Switzerland) 1:36.548
4. Maesen/D’Haene (Belgium) 1:37.351
5. Chaveau/Guillon (France) 1:37.861
6. Bartho/Arthur (RSA) 1:38.084
3 000m final
1. Nathan Baggaley (Aus) 12:17.841
2. Ben Fouhey (New Zealand) 12:19.270
3. Shaun Rubenstein (RSA) 12:33.332
4. Tim Brabants (Great Britain) 12:37.452
Source: Canoeing South Africa
| 
