Ella lines up for Oceania champs

Cook Islands Olympic canoe slalom athlete Ella Nicholas is lining up for the Oceania Championships in Penrith, Sydney, this weekend.

Cook Islands Olympic canoe slalom athlete Ella Nicholas is lining up for the Oceania Championships in Penrith, Sydney, this weekend.

Having just completed a three week training block in the United Arab Emiratesa with Kiwi Olympian Luuka Jones, she has flown back to Sydney to represent the Cooks at the event.

While always aiming for a good result, she admits she is still feeling pretty tired from the hard training on the artificial river in the desert at Al Ain, near Dubai. It was a great training environment with many top internationals training there also.

“I learnt heaps, which is part of the bigger picture in my bid to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympics,” says Nicholas.

After the race Ella will fly back to university in Christchurch to complete the fifth year of her medical degree.

She also has a training partner in her younger sister Jane Nicholas.