Ella prepares for World Cup

While most Olympians are now taking a well deserved rest after the London games, Cook Islands slalom canoeist Ella Nicholas is preparing for more races at the World Cup.

Before representing the Cooks at the London Olympics, Nicholas was ranked 83 from 217 athletes after her race results early in 2012.

Only 21 countries qualified to compete in the Olympics in the C1 women’s division for canoe slalom. Only one athlete per country competes in canoe slalom.

There were no tripartite positions offered in canoe slalom for women.

Nicholas finished 18 from 21 countries ahead of Switzerland, Japan and Morocco who had all qualified through their continental championships.

She finished just over a second behind the American qualifier who finished in 17th.

In slalom there are two runs for the heats, with the best run counting and 15 advance to semis and then 10 from semis to finals.

Canoe slalom is dominated by Europeans, with nine of the 10 finalists being from Europe.

Nicholas was sitting in 15th after her solid first run and needed something really special for her second run.

She made a small error at the top of the course, getting off line, and that cost her seven to eight seconds, plus two gate touches which made her 16th best in that run, and her overall result being 18th.

Without this small mistake a semi final position was within her grasp.

After her Olympic races Ella commented, ”Although it didn’t all go to plan, I did some paddling today I was proud of.“

Off the canoe course, Nicholas and Team Cook Islands have been praised for being outstanding ambassadors for the country.

The young team of athletes mixed and mingled with some famous names including the IOC president Jacques Rogge, tennis star Venus Williams, Princess Anne and movie star Russell Brand to name a few.

Nicholas would like to acknowledge the support from CISNOC, Olympic Solidarity, Oceania Canoeing and Cook Islands Canoeing.

She would especially like to thank Pamela Maru, Lydia Sijp and Siniva Marsters for all the administration behind the scenes and chef-de-mission George George and all her Cook Islands Olympic team mates for their support at the games, Maree Burnett and Helen Brownlee of Oceania Canoeing who have been supportive on the journey, plus sponsors, family and friends in the Cooks and NZ – a big thank you.

Nicholas is still in Europe where she is recovering from a virus picked up at the end of the games and then she will compete in the final two World Cup races of the 2012 series in Prague on August 24 and 26 and Bratislava on August 30 to September 2.