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Aussie sprint paddler Bull defends world crown

3 minute read

Australia's sprint canoe and paracanoe team have added a sixth world championships medal, with Aly Bull successfully defending her K1 1000m title in Germany.

Alyce Burnett (R) and ALYSSA BULL (L) .
Alyce Burnett (R) and ALYSSA BULL (L) . Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

Aly Bull has won back-to-back world titles as Australia remain at the top of the medal table at the 2023 ICF canoe sprint and paracanoe world championships in Germany.

Queenslander Bull clinched Australia's fourth gold medal, and sixth podium place overall, on the Regattabahn Duisburg course, successfully defending her K1 1000 metre crown.

The two-time Olympian finished almost two seconds ahead of her nearest competitor, Poland's Justyna Iskrzycka.

"I'm really stoked to be able to go back-to-back in the K1 1000, it's a challenging race and it's pretty cool I was able to do it," Bull said.

"I tend to try and not look around when I'm in a race ... I just knew that there was a bit of a tail breeze on today. I really wanted to go hard from the start.

"I overcooked myself in that middle section but I was really glad to still be able to come away with a win."

As well as Bull's gold, Australian paddlers secured two more quota spots for the Paris 2024 Games, courtesy of strong finals performances from Olympic gold medallist Tom Green and dual Olympian Alyce Wood.

Green qualified the quota spot by finishing fourth in the men's K1 1000m final while Wood placed fifth in the women's K1 500m.

"It's really nice to know that I've been able to get a quota spot for Australia, and do that for the team," new mum Wood said.

"I'm really happy with the race, really happy to be in the mix and happy to be able to race with those girls again.

"The really special thing is there was three of us with kids in that race, and we got third, fourth and fifth," she said.

Fletcher Armstrong and Jakob Hammond finished seventh in the men's K2 1000 final, while Susan Seipel backed up from yesterday's bronze-medal performance to finish fifth in the women's KL2 200m.

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