By Dan Plouffe
Ben Tardioli skipped taking a gentle first-time introduction and wasted no time making a name for himself on the international canoe-kayak scene by placing fourth in the C-1 men’s 200 meters in his World Cup debut at Racice, Czech Republic May 16-18.
“I was very, very happy,” smiles Tardioli, who’d been surprised enough to win the Canadian team trials after placing fourth last year.
“To come fourth at a World Cup? No way,” Tardioli says, still in disbelief. “But I just did my race, basically. I had a great start and I kept it going the whole way, and that was it. You can’t really focus on other people when you race. You’ve got to do your own thing, and it paid off.”
The 24-year-old recent Carleton University grad came back down to earth a little for the second World Cup of the tour May 23-25 in Szeged, Hungary, placing 13th overall out of 35.
Tardioli says he was feeling tired by the end of the three-week trip – his longest stay to date overseas – especially since the team continued to train hard throughout instead of peaking, since the next set of team trials at the end of June in Montreal and the Aug. 6-10 World Championships in Moscow carry greater importance.
Tardioli was unexpectedly joined by a fellow Rideau Canoe Club athlete for the trip. Megan Sibthorpe, Canada’s second-ranked right side canoe paddler, got the call eight days before the Racice event that the top Canadian had decided not to go and the door was open for her to make her World Cup debut.
“I was really surprised,” recounts the 19-year-old South Carleton High School grad. “I was hoping to make it through trials in the future, but this year it was definitely not planned.”
Sibthorpe definitely felt her heart pounding on the start line for her first race, she describes, but generally didn’t feel nerves as much as expected.
“The atmosphere was really different. I’m used to having all my club with me whenever I’m racing. Being around professional athletes is very different. They’re very relaxed and not super stressed out before their races. I think it made me more calm as well being around that and I didn’t get stressed out,” explains Sibthorpe, who placed eighth of nine athletes in the C-1 200 m and fifth of six entries in the C-2 500 m alongside Taylor Potts.
Having two paddlers from the same club make their World Cup debuts together was “pretty cool. It was definitely nice to have someone from home there,” adds Sibthorpe, who made a quick day trip to Prague with Tardioli during their time in the Czech Republic.
Jr./U23 worlds promise
Four local athletes are in the final running for places on the Canadian team for the July 17-20 Junior and Under-23 World Championships in Szeged after podium performances at the May 31-June 1 team trials in Dartmouth, N.S.
Also a fourth-place finisher in K-1, Victor Turcanu of the Ottawa River Canoe Club earned bronze with teammate Harrison Chambers in the K-2 junior men’s 200 m.
Rideau athletes Drew Hodges (silver, C-1 U23 men’s 1,000 m), August Sibthorpe (silver, K-1 junior women’s 500 m), and Kate Braddon (bronze, K-2 junior women’s 500 m with Rowan Hardy-Kavanagh) were also selected.