HAMISH Lovemore was one of the shining lights for South Africa at this past weekend’s Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Championships in Poznan, Poland.

The uMdloti paddler was part of the SA team (which included Esti Olivier and Bridgitte Hartley), and competed in the K1 1000m and K1 5000m races.

He claimed silver in the 5000m event, the final race of the regatta, and won the B Final of the 1000m.

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In the longer event, as the lead group of four paddlers approached the finish, Lovemore unleashed a devastating end sprint that saw him come from the back of the bunch and overhaul Norway’s Amund Vold as well as his nemesis, Mads Pedersen from Denmark.

While the local resident was just not able to get past Portugal’s Fernando Pimenta, he will be pleased to have convincingly powered past Pedersen, who in the past two years has relegated Lovemore to the second step of the podium in many 5000m and marathon events when they have raced each other.

It was a repeat of his results at last year’s Canoe Sprint and Paracanoe World Championships in Italy, where Lovemore also finished second in the K1 5000m event.

The championships, which got underway on Wednesday last week, came with a significant weighting for qualification for the 2028 LA Olympic Games, which is based on results by country (not individual athletes) from April this year through to December 2027.

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