Toti canoe champ qualifies for Olympics
Tiffany Koch and her partner, Esti Olivier, beat 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Bridgitte Hartley and former World Surfski Champion Michelle Burn in the final.
CANOEIST Tiffany Koch of Amanzimtoti overcame tricky conditions in a tense winner-takes-all shoot-out to book her place in the South African Olympic canoeing team selected at the SA Championships in Gauteng recently.
Also read:Â Toti Canoe Club hosts SA Olympian at coaching course
Koch and her paddling partner, Esti Olivier, beat 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Bridgitte Hartley and former World Surfski Champion Michelle Burn in the final leg of the three-race shoot-out to earn the women’s 500m K2 place in the team to go to France in August. A few days earlier, Olivier and Koch narrowly won the women’s 500m K2 SA Championships final, but Hartley and Burn were close enough to trigger the shoot-out selection series of two more races to finalise the women’s boat for the 2024 Olympics.
In France, they will join men’s K2 500m winners, Andy Birkett and Hamish Lovemore. For these SA Championships, which doubled as the Olympic trials, Olivier and Koch resurrected a World Cup partnership from 2015/2016. Koch also competed in the 2012 London Olympics.
The pair were clear winners in the Championship 500m K2 final but were then convincingly beaten by their rivals in the second leg of the shoot-out, to set up the winner-takes-all showdown in the final. Tough side winds and headwinds meant both boats battled for rhythm in the 500m dash for team selection, but Koch and Olivier were more settled through the middle portion of the race and had already done enough to secure the all-important victory when Koch missed a stroke near the finish line in the choppy conditions.
Squads for the Senior World Championships, World Cup events, the Junior and U23 World Championships and the Olympic Hopes International Development Regatta will be announced shortly.
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