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| ESPN.com: Olympics
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Wednesday,
April 20, 2011
Voyage
is complex for whitewater paddlers
By Bonnie D. Ford
Fifteen months out from the London
2012 Games might seem early for a milestone
qualifying competition, but last weekend's
USA Canoe/Kayak slalom team trials were
just that.
Six runs over three days at the National
Whitewater Center outside Charlotte, N.C.,
determined the men's and women's teams
that will compete at every important event
for the rest of the year, including this
summer's World Championships, World Cup
races, a July test event in London and
the Pan American Championships. Results
from those events will determine how many
slots the U.S. will have in London.
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| Brett
Heyl, 29, said he committed to
another four years of elite competition
after a bad day at the wrong time
-- the final selection race for
the 2008 Olympics -- cost him
a repeat trip. |
The three men named to the team in the
Single Kayak (K1) event will be familiar
to those who follow the sport: 2004 Olympian
Brett Heyl; 2008 Olympian Scott Parsons
and two-time national champion Scott Mann,
who was the Olympic alternate in both
of those Games.
Heyl, 29, said he committed to another
four years of elite competition after
a bad day at the wrong time -- the final
selection race for the 2008 Olympics --
cost him a repeat trip.
"I didn't
want that to define me," said the Norwich,
Vt., native, who is close to completing
a degree in economics and urban planning
at the University of North Carolina. He
finished 15th at the 2004 Olympics and
was the World Cup silver medalist in 2008.
Heyl, Mann and Parsons are a formidable
group, "all bona fide world medal contenders,"
USA Canoe/Kayak CEO and 1992 double canoe
slalom Olympic gold medalist Joe Jacobi
said. And under normal circumstances,
they would be the heavy favorites to vie
for the one precious Olympic slot in their
event.
But there was an unusual twist to these
team trials. None of those three men had
the fastest cumulative time, determined
by their best four runs in the K1 event.
That distinction belonged to 17-year-old
Michal Smolen, who is not eligible to
compete for the U.S. senior team because
he is not a citizen -- yet.
Smolen, born in Poland, immigrated to
the U.S. eight years ago with his mother
to join his father, Rafal, who had been
granted a work visa to coach at a club
in North Carolina. The family has remained
there ever since, and Smolen has had his
permanent resident's green card for three
years. Under normal circumstances, he'd
have to wait another two before his citizenship
application could be approved.
There are fewer citizenship restrictions
in junior competition, and Smolen, a junior
U.S. champion, finished fourth at the
junior world championships last year.
He said that getting a U.S. passport is
not just a matter of athletic convenience
for him.
"I learned the sport
here," he said. "I grew up here and trained
with the U.S. athletes. Going [to the
Olympics] for the U.S. would mean more
to me."
The high school senior, who plans to attend
Queens University in Charlotte this fall,
has applied for an expedited citizenship
process. If that fails, his fallback plan
is to explore competing for Poland, although
that could make future competition for
the U.S. problematic. He is still age-eligible
to race in the junior ranks this year
and said he thinks he can stay race-fit.
Meanwhile, his father was just hired as
USA Canoe/Kayak's slalom national development
and coaching manager at the National Whitewater
Center in Charlotte.
Heyl said he isn't dwelling on Smolen's
citizenship status or the weekend's results.
The events of 2008 took an emotional toll,
and Heyl's goal this time around is to
manage the stress and focus on what he
can control -- his own performance.
Smolen "obviously has incredible potential,
and he's incredible racing this [Charlotte]
course," Heyl said. "He knows it better
than anyone. I train with him, and he
pushes me every day, and that's good for
me. It's important to keep this in perspective."
World Championships:
The ICF, canoe/kayak's international governing
body, recently selected Deep River, Md.,
as the site of the 2014 canoe slalom world
championships.
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