Kiwi contender in good form
From missing selection to Tokyo to chasing medals in Paris.
Finn Butcher’s continued emergence as a world-class paddler took another surge at the weekend to confirm the New Zealander as a podium prospect in the two events he will contest at this year’s Olympic Games.
At the International Canoe Federation Canoe Slalom World Cup in Augsburg in Germany, Butcher claimed silver in the men’s K1 kayak event and later captured bronze in the kayak cross final.
The 29-year-old was a reserve only for the New Zealand team at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, but will join veteran paddler and Rio 2016 silver medallist Luuka Jones at her fifth Olympics in Paris next month.
Butcher was the first competitor of the 10 K1 kayak finalists to make his run, and his time of 102.26 was bettered only by Felix Oschmautz of Austria, as only one paddler completed the course without penalties.
In the kayak cross final, Butcher took bronze behind Mathurin Madore of France and Switzerland’s Dimitri Marx.
Madore accidentally flipped his kayak shortly after the start but was able to get past Marx and Butcher as they came together when battling for the lead.
“When I saw the two race leaders go to the same side of the course, I knew then that there would be a possibility they would get in each other’s way. Next I was in the lead,” Madore said.
Alexandra’s Butcher was 13th in the K1 and 11th in kayak cross at last year’s world championships, and took silver in a World Cup kayak cross final last year on the Paris Olympic course.
Jones was fourth in the women’s kayak cross final, won by world championship bronze medallist Eva Tercelj of Slovenia.