Alyssa Bull spoils Alyce Burnett’s perfect run at Oceania kayaking
THEIR goal is to win a medal together at the Tokyo Olympics but the only woman able to beat Alyce Burnett at the Oceania kayaking championships was her K2 partner Alyssa Bull.
Women's sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Women's sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Swoop spotlight on Lydia Lassila
- Swoop spotlight on Britt Cox
- Why netballer Susan Pettitt feared this call
THEIR goal is to win a medal together at the Tokyo Olympics but on Sunday the only woman able to beat Alyce Burnett at the Oceania kayaking championships and Grand Prix 2 regatta at Penrith was her K2 partner Alyssa Bull.
Burnett was undefeated in every one of her heats and finals at the three-day regatta until the K1 1000m - ironically the event she won a world title in a year ago.
TICKLED PINK: How his mum inspires surfer Julian Wilson
INVASION: US surfing top guns heading down under
But as the event is a non-Olympic class, both paddlers opted to use it as a warm-up for their following K4 race — which they won together with Jamie Roberts and Cat McArthur.
“There was under an hour before the K4 so we took it a little easy because this is a selection event and important,’’ Burnett said.
“We were playing a lot of cat and mouse out there.’’
Burnett and Bull were surprise selections for the K2 at the Rio Olympics after beating the more favoured pairing of Naomi Flood and Jo Brigden Jones.
SWOOP SPOTLIGHT: On Kailani Craine
WINTER MAGIC: This is quite simply an extraordinary story
At Penrith, Sunshine Coast’s Burnett and Bull won the women’s K2 500m with a two second defeat of McArthur and Roberts to confirm their favouritism to race the event at the world championships in Portugal later this year.
Burnett also won both the K1 200m and K1 500m races.
The performances have secured Burnett an invitation to the 2018 national team selection trials at Penrith from March 4-5.