Olympian Simon hoping for summer push after improved World Cup display

The 21-year-old missed out in the women's K1 500m at the season opening World Cup in Szeged last week but roared back to form this time around in Duisburg.

Agonisingly close to making the A final, Simon, who represented Team GB at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, was leading at the 250m mark of the B final, though she was to be overhauled by Australia's Alyssa Bull.

Yet that couldn't take away the feeling of content for the Hungarian-born canoeist, confident the season can now head in the right direction following this comeback.

"Last weekend didn't go as well as I wanted it to and it felt like a bad start to the year but I am glad I have improved on last weekend's results," she said.

"I was only three tenths of a second off my PB which I got in the middle of July last year so to do that in May is pretty cool and I am happy with that.

"I have been working this winter on the first 250m of the race and I have definitely improved on that. I want to get down to the 53 second mark for the first 250m and I have been doing 54s this weekend.

"I also need to work on the back end of my race which used to be my strength and having gone quicker in the first half now I have slowed a bit at the end, so I just need to combine the two."

Sportsbeat 2018