“We’ve been working our arses off for the last six months with this challenge so we are super-stoked,” said Birkett. “It’s 1.29 I think we did. That’s about four or five seconds faster than we’ve ever gone.”
But whether they can replicate their good form for the semifinal on Friday remains to be seen. “We’ve already said from the beginning of our training we need the stars to align once,” said Lovemore. “That’s it. That feels like it was it.”
Then Birkett suggested that maybe they could repeat it. “It will happen again. We’ll find a big steak tonight. I think after a big steak the night before our race we’ll be fine.”
The women’s K2 500m duo of Esti Olivier and Tiffany Koch, who live in different provinces and were able to train only about three days each month together, finished last in the heats and the quarterfinals.
Both have focused more on the single and are competing in the women’s K1 500m on Wednesday.
Marathon men of SA paddling find new speed to break into world's top 16
Marathon men Andy Birkett and Hamish Lovemore proved they were fairly useful sprinters as they forced their way into the K2 500m semifinals at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday.
They first endured a poor heat in which they faded over the second half before storming back in the quarterfinals in the afternoon, finishing second.
“We had a terrible race in the heat,” said Birkett, who has 14 Dusi crowns and two K1 world marathon titles under his belt.
“We felt good for the first 250, but the second half of our heat felt terrible. We just fell apart. And we knew everything rode on that quarterfinal, we felt a lot of pressure. We knew if we didn't make it through we would end our K2 racing for the Olympics.”
The duo, who race in the K1 1000m on Wednesday, had trained specifically for the double, with Lovemore moving in with father-of-two Birkett at his East London home where they trained on the Nahoon river.
Lovemore said the heat had felt so bad they decided to warm-up for the quarterfinals in their K1 boats. “We went to jump in our singles before this doubles race. We wanted to have as little time in the double as possible. That’s how bad it felt in the heat.”
But then it all came together in the quarterfinal, where they crossed the line in a 1min 29.75sec personal best. Now they are one of the top 16 boats in the world. “We felt amazing in the midsection in the 500,” said Birkett.
“We just felt so smooth in the boat. And it feels like that was what we were hoping for. Just one good race. We can go home happy almost …
“We’ve been working our arses off for the last six months with this challenge so we are super-stoked,” said Birkett. “It’s 1.29 I think we did. That’s about four or five seconds faster than we’ve ever gone.”
But whether they can replicate their good form for the semifinal on Friday remains to be seen. “We’ve already said from the beginning of our training we need the stars to align once,” said Lovemore. “That’s it. That feels like it was it.”
Then Birkett suggested that maybe they could repeat it. “It will happen again. We’ll find a big steak tonight. I think after a big steak the night before our race we’ll be fine.”
The women’s K2 500m duo of Esti Olivier and Tiffany Koch, who live in different provinces and were able to train only about three days each month together, finished last in the heats and the quarterfinals.
Both have focused more on the single and are competing in the women’s K1 500m on Wednesday.
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