Pennie optimistic ahead of K1 world semi-final
BySportsbeat
Published 29/09/2017 at 13:47 GMT
Great Britain canoe slalom star Fiona Pennie was full of confidence after qualifying fastest in the women's K1 heats at the World Championships in Pau, on Thursday.
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Image credit: Eurosport
The 34-year-old was optimistic about Saturday's semi-final, a race which the European champion will start last thanks to her impressive qualifying performance.
"It doesn't really bother me, I have been there before and I am used to it at home all the time," she told British Canoeing.
"At the Euros in 2013 I won the semi-final, so was last off in the final and went on to win."
Pennie, the World Championship silver medallist, topped the leader board in her K1 women's heats yesterday.
The experienced kayaker beat 72 other boats that competed in the K1 class after she posted a clean 86.41 seconds to finish ahead of rivals Ricarda Funk of Germany and Marie-Zelia Lafont from France.
The Scot won her heat with a solid performance on the moderately open course, where she demonstrated good boat speed and great form.
Pennie revealed her race-winning strategy was to remain cool-headed, and she was happy that her plan paid off.
"I didn't think my run was super amazing, but I guess it was composed enough to do the trick!" She said.
"I watched the boys yesterday and I knew it was going to be a quite fast course and tight in the results.
"I had a solid plan and decided not to do anything too drastic and I made sure I went round the upstream quite solidly.
"I got a little bit out of shape at the bottom on the last stagger and had to use 'the guns' to get out of jail and I got there."
Meanwhile, Mallory Franklin, Kimberly Woods, Adam Burgess, Ryan Westley and David Florence all also managed to qualify for Saturday's semi-finals in the K1 and C1 classes.
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