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Lizzie Neave
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Grace Cullen 19 June 2012
Canoe (Slalom): Lizzie Neave claimed her first medal of 2012, winning bronze in the women’s K1 event at the ICF World Cup two in Pau, France.
Learning from her semi-final run she built on her earlier performance, ironing out time errors to go three seconds faster in the final and take the early lead. It was then a waiting game for the final positions, and only Spain’s Maialen Chourrant and Carole Bouzidi from France went better, leaving Neave in third and with the bronze medal.
Neave commented: “I am really happy, especially after last weekend in Cardiff where I didn’t have a great time. I’m really pleased to have built through the competition and put in a good run when it counted. I felt much more in control this weekend, it’s been a tough course and all the top boats are here, so it fills me with confidence for the rest of the season. It’s great to get back on the podium as it has been a while.”
GB Canoeing
Fencing: Richard Kruse took the bronze medal at the European Championships in Legnano, Italy.
After beating world number 30, Reenal Ganeev of Russia in the round of eight, Kruse faced another Russian, Alexey Cheremisinov, in the semi-final. After making a strong start and taking a 10-5 lead, Kruse eventually lost out to the world number eight, 15-11.
Speaking shortly after the medal ceremony Kruse said: “It feels good. I wanted to be on the podium. I wanted to have a complete burn-out before the Olympics and we’ve got just six weeks now until London. I wanted to push myself to the absolute limit and I did just that. It felt fantastic and it’s a grueling format. I’ll settle for bronze now and we’ll work on fitness when we get back.”
British Fencing
Rowing: The GB Rowing Team won eight medals at the season’s final World Cup in Munich, with three gold, one silver and four bronze medals.
There were stand-out performances from the women’s pair of Sporting Giant Helen Glover and Heather Stanning as well as from the women’s double scull of Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins. Both crews are unbeaten this season and each has racked up a hat-trick of world cup golds. The other gold came from Britain’s lightweight men’s four, who beat a strong field.
The GB men’s four of Andrew Triggs Hodge, Tom James, Alex Gregory and Pete Reed took the silver in a narrow defeat to Australia.
Britain’s other medals were all bronze from the women’s quadruple scull, women’s and men’s eight, and Alan Campbell in the men’s single.
Britain also won golds in the mixed adaptive coxed four and lightweight men’s pair as well as a bronze in the adaptive men’s single scull.
David Tanner, the GB Rowing Team Performance Director, said: “We’ve actually had a good day with some excellent results. Many crews have stepped on from the last world cup. We’ve also had some disappointments. I’d like to say a big congratulations to the women’s squad on their medals. There were outstanding performances in the women’s double and pair and also from the lightweight men’s four”.
British Rowing
Wheelchair Tennis: Ten of Britain’s top Wheelchair Tennis players have been selected for ParalympicsGB, as the British Paralympic Association confirmed the ten athletes who will compete at Eton Manor at the Olympic Park.
The Wheelchair Tennis team is headed by the ‘Quadfather’ Peter Norfolk, the current world number two in the quad division and winner of two consecutive singles gold medals from Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.
Also competing in the quad events will be world number 4 Andy Lapthorne and former Marine Jamie Burdekin, who won bronze alongside Norfolk in the quad doubles in Beijing.
In the men’s events, selected athletes are Gordon Reid, Marc McCarroll, David Phillipson and Alex Jewitt.
In the women’s singles events, Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley return to the team to make their second Games appearance, while Louise Hunt will make her Games debut in London.
Tennis Foundation
Events taking place over the weekend:
Archery: World Cup, Ogden, USA (18-24 June)
Athletics: Olympic Trials, Birmingham (22-24 June)
Canoe (Slalom): World Cup, La Seu d’Urgell, Spain (22-24 June)
Gymnastics (Trampoline): World Cup Series: Arosa, Switzerland (22-23 June)
Sailing: World Cup, Kiel, Germany (18-24 June)
Triathlon: ITU World Series, Kitzbuehel (23-24 June)
