Tom Green talented enough for Tokyo 2020 says kayaking legend Ken Wallace
He’s tall, lanky, super strong and bears an uncanny resemblance to the man he hopes to emulate by paddling to Olympic gold.
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He’s tall, lanky, super strong and bears an uncanny resemblance to the man he hopes to emulate by paddling to gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
They even do the same job - life guarding.
Teenager Tom Green says if he makes it to the Olympics it will have a lot to do with his relationship with kayaking legend Ken Wallace.
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In response, mentor Wallace believes Green could be the greatest kayaker Australia has ever produced - a big call given Clint Robinson won gold, silver and bronze at the Barcelona and Atlanta Olympics and multiple world champion Wallace a gold and bronze at the Beijing Games.
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“He is the next prodigy. He is the next one,” said Wallace of Green who he has been racing against in the surf ski at the Australian surf lifesaving titles at Broadbeach this week.
“If he keeps on the curve he is on now he will do better than anyone, anything I have done.”
Green, just 19, sent shockwaves through his sport when he made the K1 500 finals at last years world titles and then won the Australian K1 1000 and K1 500 titles at the recent national titles, leaving more experienced and hardened campaigners well in his wake.
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It’s a step in the right direction for the young kayakers goal of paddling at the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
“Kenny has helped me a lot with craft and learning how to race, how to do the sport,” said Green who will race the single ski, surf ski double with Australian kayak teammate Jackson Collins and ski relay at the Australian surf lifesaving titles for North Burleigh. Green said.
“I wouldn’t be where I am without him.
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“I did a lot of reflection after the worlds last year when I finished eighth at the K1 500 final and I thought if I want to make a move, I have to do it now to make the Games.
“So I’ll have to match it with the guys winning the races overseas and I have to do it now if I want to go to the (Tokyo) Games.
“I just learned how to train harder and better, do the one percenters. I have learned how to hurt, learned how to deal with the pain.
“And I stopped hopping on the wash of someone else at training.”
Surf life saving has long been a nursery for top paddling talent with almost the entire kayaking team at the last Olympic Games hailing from the surf sport.
Earlier, it was clear Shannon Eckstein won’t have to look far to find his biggest rival for the Australian ironman crown on Sunday with younger brother Caine emerging from the pack to threaten his siblings farewell party.
Both brothers, who race for Northcliffe, won their ironman semi-finals on Friday at the Australian surf lifesaving championships on the Gold Coast.
Interestingly, the man tipped to be Eckstein’s biggest danger to winning an eighth Australian ironman crown, Nutri-Grain series winner Ali Day (Surfers Paradise), only just scraped into Sunday’s finals.