SA canoeist Andy Birkett wins another singles world title

Ponte de Lima — Andy Birkett delivered a marathon racing masterclass as he became the 2022 world champion, winning a thrilling senior men’s K1 gold medal at the ICF Canoe Marathon World Championships on the Lima River in Portugal on Saturday.

Birkett had to fight to stay in contention during the early part of the race, bouncing back from an unusually poor portage to put himself in the ideal position for the end-sprint involving five athletes.          

Birkett, who also won the gold medal at the World Games in the US earlier in the year, produced the raw speed needed to streak past local hero Jose Ramalho and Danish defending world champion Mads Pedersen.

“There is so much depth and the level of racing is so strong,” said Birkett.  “The whole way I was just trying to stay in contact and I thought that a podium would have been amazing. I thought I would even settle for fifth.

“It was a complete surprise,” said the East London-based star, who won his first marathon world title in Portugal in 2018. “I was in the right place coming into the end sprint, and I think I surprised myself.”

Birkett said he was pleased to be able to manage the setbacks he encountered in the race.

“Everybody goes through stages in the race when they are not feeling great and you make small mistakes. That’s marathon racing and you just have to try to catch up.

“Mads [Pedersen] had a swim today so things can happen to anyone. Luckily I could recover from my first portage, which was pretty bad.”

Birkett and his teammate Hamish Lovemore were central to a six-boat bunch at the front of the eight lap 29.8km race.

Despite having won the under-23 world title 24 hours before, Lovemore shook the senior men’s race with his impressive challenges and only faded on the final lap to finish fifth.

Nikki Birkett mounted the solitary charge in the women’s K1 race that was dominated by the trio of Swede Melina Andersson, Great Britain’s Sam Rees Clark and Hungarian Vanda Kizsli.

Birkett withdrew on the first portage with cramp in her forearms and a shifting footplate troubling her, as Kizsli edged out Andersson to claim the world title.