Olympic champion Etienne Stott admits he will know more about what he and canoe slalom double partner Tim Baillie can achieve this year after the first two British selection races.
Stott and Baillie, who won Britain’s first-ever canoe slalom Olympic gold medal with victory in the C2 at London 2012, will compete in their first ‘real full-blooded race’ since then this weekend.
That comes in the form of the British selection races with the first two in Nottingham this weekend and the final two on the Olympic course at Lee Valley two weeks later.
Stott and Baillie are under no pressure with their Olympic gold medal-winning efforts affording them pre-selection for the British team for the 2013 international season.
Still, Stott knows the importance of competing in Nottingham on their hopes for more success this year with June’s European Championships in Poland their first test after the selection races.
“Since the Olympics we competed in the British Open last November and we had a race in Scotland a couple of weeks ago but it wasn’t as full on a race as Nottingham will be, so this will be the first real full-blooded race that we will have done since the Olympics,” said Stott.
“It’s a great opportunity to gather information about our form and the things we will need to work on going forwards into the International season.
“And a great opportunity for us to fine tune our racing technique before the international season starts, which for us will be the European Championships in six weeks time.
“The last few months we’ve worked really hard, it’s been really tough with very bad weather, certainly the toughest winter I’ve ever experienced in the UK in its length and difficulty of training. We’re looking forward to the season arriving and the summer conditions arriving with it.”
© Sportsbeat 2013