A mixed Canadian team represented this weekend at the Slovak Open. Development Team members Paul Manning-Hunter and Thomas & Daniel Purcell joined National Team members Jessica Groeneveld, Ben Hayward, John Hastings and David Ford, in the Pre-World Championships. All but Hastings are Alberta born and raised so it great to see the depth of Alberta's development over the years.
For the first time in 7 years the Bratislava organizers ran the tough left-left channels on the Danubia course. The slalom course here allows for at least 4 different channel configurations. Left-left will be the channel used for next year's World Championships and Olympic Qualifier.
It was a good showing for the Team. All but Manning-Hunter qualified for the Semi-Finals. The Purcell brothers made they're first semi-final along with all the National Team members
From the Semi Finals, Hayward was the one to step up and qualify for his first ever Final! With two good runs, Ben qualified 7th, and then followed it up with a similar run to finish 7th overall. With fastest splits on both runs he was happy to be on an upswing going in to the next month of training and racing.
One more day of training Bratislava and then we head to Tacen, Slovenia to prepare for the World Championships.
Cheers, Mike
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