Utanga just misses semis

Cook Islands canoe sprint paddler Josh Utanga just missed out on a semi-finals spot of the K1 1000m by just 0.10 seconds at the 2010 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships held in Poznan, Poland between August 19-22.

His sights are now set on the 2012 London Olympics and he is looking for sponsors to help him get there.

Utanga burst onto the canoe sprint scene at last year’s World Championships in Canada when he made the semi-finals in the same event after only spending 10 weeks in a canoe.

“I was pretty gutted to miss out but I am determined that this result will make me stronger towards my goal of qualifying for the 2012 London Olympics,” Utanga said.

For the second year running the Cook Islands paddler was invited to ICF Canoe Sprint Talent Identification camp which was held in Poland before the World Championships. The ICF received strong interest with more than 60 applications to this programme but only invited 30 athletes to participate. Athletes were selected for this camp on the basis of their previous performance, level and progress regarding the monthly test results.

At the conclusion of the camp all athletes went onto to compete at the World Championships.

As a member of the Talent Identification team Utanga narrowly missed out on the K1 1000m semifinal and was the second fastest paddler from the team over that distance. He went on to compete at the K1 500m and K1 200m and although he did not progress he recorded the fastest times from the Talent Identification team for each of these races.

“I have enjoyed my time here having learnt heaps and improved alot. I had a good crack and did my best. The experience of racing at the worlds is priceless and I have become more determined and motivated to reach my goal” he said.

Utanga will now be relocating his training base from the Gold Coast to his home town in Tauranga, New Zealand.

“I have enjoyed being based in Australia but it was not sustainable funding wise to stay there so it made sense for me to go home and continue to train from there with the support of my family and friends.”

An important part of canoe sprint paddler’s equipment is a quality K1 kayak that will be required for training and competition. One of the issues for Utanga faces is that he requires funding for a kayak. “I have grown out of the kayak that I have in Australia so I am hopeful that my story may appeal to a Cook Islands sponsor who could assist me to reach the 2012 Olympics.” Utanga said.