Olympic champ Adam van Koeverden headlines national team paddling trials 
at Lake Lanier  

OTTAWA (Apr. 20) - Olympic champion Adam van Koeverden of Oakville, Ont., and world championship medallists Karen Furneaux of Waverley, N.S., and Richard Dalton of Halifax headline the first national team trials in canoe and kayak set for this Friday and Saturday in Lake Lanier, Georgia.

   The trials will determine the Canadian teams for the World Cup events next month in Poznan, Poland and in Duisburg, Germany. Both those competition will be part of the selection process to select the team for the world championships August 17-20 at Szeged, Hungary.

   ‘’This weekend we’re looking for continued improvements and an indication we are marching in the right direction towards the 2008 Olympics,’’ said Graham Barton, the sprint high performance director for CanoeKayak Canada. ‘’With our growing international success our goal as a team is to challenge the Germans and Hungarians overall at the big events.’’

   Canadian paddlers have produced strong international performances for the past two seasons including three medals at the 2004 Olympics and six more at the world championships last year in Zagreb, Croatia. 

   Van Koeverden won gold in the K-1 500 and bronze in the K-1 1,000 at the Athens Games and added silver in the 1,000 and bronze in the 500 at the worlds. Furneaux was Canada’s top paddler at the worlds last year with silver in the women’s K-1 500 and bronze in the 200 and 1,000 metre events. Dalton made his international breakthrough at worlds last year with bronze in the C-1 1,000.

   ‘’Adam looks really, really strong,’’ said Barton. ‘’You look at all our indicators and he’s on track to do as well or better than last year.’’

   Carrie Lightbound of Mississauga, Ont., a key member in the crewboat events retired after last season.

   ‘’With Carrie retired we’re trying to see some new faces that could replace her in the K-4,’’ said Barton. ‘’In the men’s program we have a great battle brewing in the C-2. We have three or four world class teams on the line this weekend. The men’s kayak program continues to improve and a lot of guys are getting closer to Adam in training.’’

   Three-time Olympic medallist Caroline Brunet of Montreal underwent hip surgery in the fall and won’t race at the trials.

   ‘’She’s still recovering,’’ said Barton. ‘’It’s probably touch and go right now. We’re playing it day-by-day to see what happens. It usually takes awhile to recover from hip surgery.’’

   Competition runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day with the 1,000 metre events on Friday and the 500 races on Saturday.