International flavour to leaderboard ahead of Australian Open final

2/23/2009

The semi-finals of the 2009 Australian Open have been completed at the Penrith Whitewater Stadium.

Under cloudy skies there is a international flavour to the men's C1 leaderboard with Olympic silver medallist from Great Britain, David Florence, leading the way with a clean run of 107.33. Florence looked strong and aggressive across the water and will be confident heading into the final run later this morning.

In second place lies Slovakian Matej Benus, while Robin Jeffery is the highest placed Australian in third place. He is closely followed by Christian Fabris and Robin in fourth and fifth places respectively.

Under the new international rules all ten finalists will have their scores wiped, allowing all ten the chance to walk away with the title.

Seven different nations will be represented in the final of the women's K1 after an action packed semi-final which saw many competitors undone by a tricky gate set up.

Russian Marta Kharitonova was the quickest qualifier in a time of 117.33, only 0.01 seconds ahead of Australia's Kate Lawrence. Austrian's Corinna Kuhnle is the third quickest qualifier. Other Australians to make it through to the final include Slovakian Jana Dukatova (4th), Rosalyn Lawrence (5th) and Jessica Fox (6th).

The top six paddlers made it down the course without picking up any penalties.

Italian Daniele Molmenti set the quickest time in the semi-finals of the men's K1 after flying down the course in a time of 102.34. Molmenti, who has recorded a number of strong results on the world cup circuit, leads Australian Anthony Brown and defending champion Peter Kauzer of Slovenia.

William Forsythe (4th) and Warwick Draper (6th) were the other two Australians to qualify in the top ten, and they will be joined by paddlers from Japan, Austria and New Zealand in the final.

Defending Olympic champions from Slovakia, Pavol and Peter Hochschorner qualified fastest for the final of the men's C2 after a clean run of 117.79. They will battle out for the title against the Slovenian crew of Peter and Ladislav Skantar who were only a second shy of the Slovakians. In the race for third it will be tight between the Great Britain crew of David Florence and Richard Hounslow and the Australian pair of Robin Jeffrey and Kynan Maley.

Australian Alison Borrows leads the way in the women's C1 heading into the final after setting a time of 165.30. It is an all Australian top three after the semi-final run with Jessica Fox in second place and Rosalyn Lawrence in third place.

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