Canada paddles to 6 World Cup medals
Three-time Olympic medallist Adam van Koeverden wins silver
Last Updated: Sunday, June 7, 2009 | 3:05 PM ET
CBC Sports
Adam van Koeverden celebrates his silver medal in the 500m kayak at the 2008 Olympic Games. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)Canada won six medals at the paddling World Cup in Hungary on Sunday, including a silver medal performance from three-time Olympic medallist Adam van Koeverden.
The doubles team of Gabriel Beauchesne-Sevigny and Andrew Russell also won silver in the men's C-2 500 metre, taking their first trip to the podium at that distance.
The pair, finalists in both the 500 and 1,000 distances at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, were coming off a disappointing ninth place finish in Saturday's 1,000.
"This was our last international race before the world championships and we had something to prove," said Beauchesne-Sevigny. "We really wanted to show that we could respond from such a sub-par performance as (Saturday's). The big difference today is that we were back in unison."
Van Koeverden, of Oakville, Ont., was second in the men's kayak singles 500, winning his fourth World Cup medal of the season.
Angus Mortimer of Ottawa placed fourth at that distance.
Beauchesne-Sevigny and Russell teamed up with Mark Oldershaw and Oakville's Adam Klevinas to win bronze in the C-4 200 on Sunday.
Canada won three other bronze medals: Karen Furneaux of Waverley, N.S., in the women's K-1 200 metres, Andrew Willows of Gananoque, Ont., and Richard Dober of Trois-Rivières, Que., in the K-2 200, and the women's K-4 200 with Kristin Gauthier of Ottawa, Mylanie Barre of Lac-Beauport, Que., Genevieve Orton of Dartmouth and Emilie Fournel of Montreal.
"We are really pleased with these World Cup results considering it's a post-Olympic year and we are still building towards peak condition for the worlds," said Graham Barton, sprint high performance director for CanoeKayak Canada.
With files from The Canadian Press
