From South Bend to Athens

Olympic hopefuls survive rough trials
 
By STEVE WOZNIAK
Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- So long, South Bend. Hello, Athens.

That was the sentiment Sunday of the 15 paddlers who survived an arduous weekend in the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for whitewater slalom at the East Race.

The chills that had been carried by the blustery gusts on Sunday morning were replaced with chills of excitement at making the U.S. team, and getting one step closer to the Summer Olympics in Athens.

Rebecca Giddens blew away the women's kayak (K-1W) field in the last two runs of the Trials, earning herself a spot on the national Olympic team. She was joined by Sarah Leith and Hannah Larsen, who finished second and third, respectively.

Scott Parsons won the men's kayak (K-1) for the second straight day, earning himself a spot on the Olympic team. Sunday's second and third-place finishers, Brett Heyl and Scott Shipley, also won spots on the roster.

Sam Davis won the single canoe (C-1) on Sunday, and was joined on the U.S. squad by Chris Ennis and Ryan Bahn, each a winner in the first two days of the Trials.

The tandem canoe (C-2) team of Joe Jacobi and Matt Taylor squeaked by Scott McCleskey and Dave Hepp in another close race, winning by just 0.45 seconds. It didn't matter. The two teams had long ago guaranteed themselves spots on the national team, where they were joined by the third-place duo of Frank Babcock and Jeff Larimer.

Giddens, who finished seventh in the 2000 Games in Sydney, Australia, kept herself on pace for a return to the Olympics. She already clinched a berth for the United States in this year's Summer Games with her third-place finish in last year's World Championships.

Coupled with her win at Trials, Giddens has gained a lead in qualifying points that is almost insurmountable. For her to miss the Olympics, she would likely have to be denied a top 10 finish in the Olympic Qualifiers in Athens April 22-25, while having both of her teammates medal.

Leith was just excited to be on the team again, and to have even the faintest possibility of reaching the Olympics.

"Athens should be a fun course," she said. "If I medal (in the Qualifiers), I'll feel like I won the Olympics."

Memo to Leith: If you medal there, you may likely qualify yourself for the Olympics in a second K-1W berth.

Parsons was slower than usual in his last runs down the course on Sunday. Nonetheless, he still had the fastest combined times for the third straight day, and avoided any penalties to leave himself a good chance to paddle in his first Olympic Games.

Parsons was too busy breathing a huge sigh of relief to worry about his Olympic future.

"I'm glad it's over. This weekend (stinks). It's the most stressful week of the year," he said, before adding with a smile, "It's nice Scott Shipley made the team."

Shipley, who finished fifth at the 2000 Olympics in men's kayak, retired from the sport before returning just recently to try for Olympic gold one more time.

He earned the final spot on the team, beating Scott Mann by only 0.04 percent in the formula used which takes the paddlers' two best results and translates them into a percentage of the winning time for those days.

In other words, Shipley beat out Mann by mere hundredths of a second -- less than the time it takes to just stick the paddle in the water -- for the final spot on the team.

The intense battle continued on Day Three for the two top teams in tandem canoe. Jacobi and Taylor may have won, but McCleskey and Hepp showed that races between the two duos could go either way.

"There hasn't been a World Cup race in two years where one or the other of us hasn't finished in the top 10," said Taylor of the oscillating dominance between the two tandems.

McCleskey, who admitted that the two teams tend to split victories in U.S. races "50-50," has become even more confident after this weekend.

"We truly believe we can put a run together," he said. "We should be able to medal at Worlds."

Davis, a two-time national champ in single canoe, took an impassioned defense against those who have said the C-1s have no shot at an Olympic berth.

"That's completely false. This summer, I came in (28th at the Worlds) and I had a bad run. Thirteen countries get berths, and my run put (the U.S.) in 12th," he said. "Whoever says that doesn't do their math.

"To the critics, I say 'Shame on you.'''

Davis also said, "It's not over for me, as far as the Olympic dream."

Instead, it's just beginning.

Ryan Bahn during Sunday's Olympic Trials

Tribune Photo/HEATHER CHARLES