Rubenstein stars at World Cup
15 May 2006
Sprint canoeist Shaun Rubenstein rounded off an excellent weekend of performances by the South African team by racing into A finals in all his chosen disciplines at the World Cup regatta in Poznan, Poland, finishing off with a stunning fifth in the 1000m A final.
After finishing eighth in the 500m K1 A final on Saturday, Rubenstein raced a tactically bold race against a world class field in the 1000m A final on Sunday, and for much of the race was the right alongside the pacesetters.
He restrained himself well, and kicked powerfully with 200 metres to go to surge past German star Bjorn Goldschmidt and Russian Anton Ryakhov to take the fifth place, his best ever result in a World Cup.
'I am so delighted!'
"I am delighted! It is so exciting to make A finals in all three K1 events, and to feel that I was right up there with the top paddlers is very encouraging," said Rubenstein.
"I feel like my training and
my long term plan is right on track. All the hard work seems to be paying off now," added the 22-year-old from Gauteng.
The powerful men's K4 crew made up of KZN speedsters Ant Stott, Michael Arthur, Shaun Biggs and Matt Bouman also enjoyed success, and grabbed second in the 200m K4 B final in a very fast 32-second time, losing the thriller to Portugal by one-hundredth-of-a-second.
Fourth for marathon stars
Western Cape stars Alexa Lombard and Donia Kamstra, who took the World Marathon Championships silver medal year, finished fourth in the 200m K2 B final.
Fellow Capetonian Nikki Mocke also made a B final, finishing sixth in the 1000m K1 B Final.
Rubenstein heads to Germany with the SA squad eager to repeat and even improve on the results from the weekend.
At last year's World Cup in Duisburg, Rubenstein announced his arrival on the international stage by winning the bronze medal in the 3000m at the end of the
regatta.
RESULTS
Men’s 1000m K1 A Final
1. Ben Fouhey NZL 3:24.495
2. Adam van Koeverden CAN 3:24.591
3. Magnus Oscarrson SWE 3:28.551
4. Jernej Zupancic SLO 3:29.169
5. Shaun Rubenstein RSA 3:31.419
Women’s 1000m K1 B Final
1. Emile Fournel CAN 4:01.152
2. Yvonne Schiring AUT 4:02.064
3. Mette Barford DEN 4:03.246
4. Antonija Nadj SMG 4:03.960
5. Qun Wang CHN 4:06.402
6. Nikki Mocke RSA 4:07.084
Men’s 200m A Final
1. Denis Titov RUS 37.291
2. Miguel Correa ARG 37.381
3. S.Borzov UZB 37.393
4. Rami Zur USA 37.513
5. Romas Petrukanecas UKR 37.675
6. A.Babadjanov UZB 37.699
7. Tomasz Mendelski POL 37.891
8. Shaun Rubenstein RSA 38.521
Women’s 200m K2 B Final
1. D’Alessio/Schmidt CAN 41.916
2. Minyuan/Xiaoyan CHN 43.014
3. Umarilevya/MekhedaUZB 43.140
4. Lombard/Kamstra RSA 43.746
Men’s
200m K4 B Final
1. Portugal 32.560
2. South Africa 32.578
3. Poland 32.898
Source: Canoeing South Africa
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