Weather Stops Play on a Dramatic Day of Racing
Day two of racing at the 2026 Paddle Worldwide World Canoe Marathon Championships was dominated by biblical rain, thunder and lightning, creating a challenging and ever-changing environment for athletes, coaches and organisers alike. While the British team had missed last week’s wet and wild Hasler Finals while travelling to Argentina, Mother Nature appeared determined to ensure they didn’t miss out entirely, delivering similarly testing conditions on the other side of the world.
The weather repeatedly disrupted competition throughout the day, forcing several schedule changes. The C1 Junior Men’s race was shortened by one lap while athletes were mid-race as an approaching thunderstorm forced officials to act quickly.
Despite the challenging conditions, the British team produced a number of strong performances across the day’s racing.
The C1 Junior Women’s race highlighted the growing strength of the category, with 13 athletes lining up on the start line.
Bella Keane (Richmond Canoe Club) made a composed and confident start, settling into a strong rhythm while making good use of the wash from Canada’s Victoria Tran.
As the race developed, an AIN athlete, a Portuguese paddler and Tran established a breakaway at the front, with Keane leading the chase behind. Strong portaging once again proved to be one of her greatest strengths, regularly recording some of the fastest transitions in the field.
“I had a really strong start which set up well to avoid incidents. I felt I was consistently fighting to get on a wash. Conditions were nice. There was wind with the flow but training on the Thames has prepared me for that. Before coming into the competition, I did a lot of running so it meant after the portages I wasn’t fully spent so I could make the most out of them.”
The battle for fourth, fifth and sixth place remained closely contested throughout much of the race. A determined final push saw Keane overtake Hungary’s Ordogh in the closing stages to secure fifth place in a time of 1:05:21. The result improves on her finish from 2025 and is particularly encouraging given she still has another year remaining in the junior category. Bella will return later in the week to compete in the Under 23 C1 event, giving her another opportunity to test herself against older and more experienced competition.
“I’d come 6th last year so I wanted to improve on that and I had been consistently pushing all race to catch back up so I wasn’t going to let it go. I’ve very pleased with my result as I feel that it’s reflective of my progress this year.”
The short course heats brought further success for the team.
Dianora De Bilio (Royal Canoe Club) raced with impressive composure throughout her heat, remaining calm and confident while making excellent use of the washes around her. Balancing efficiency with speed on the portages, she comfortably secured first place to progress to the final.
Will Roeser (Wey Kayak Club) faced an exceptionally competitive heat featuring a combination of established junior sprint athletes and experienced marathon paddlers. A challenging start and opening lap left him with work to do, but effective use of the washes helped him close the gap to the leaders. A superb first portage brought him back into contention and, after managing his race expertly, he secured a position in the lead group of four heading into the final portage. From there, he held his position to claim an automatic qualification place for the final.
Katie Brookes’ (Richmond Canoe Club) race was heavily affected by the day’s weather disruptions. Having already completed most of her warm-up, she was forced off the water when the first thunderstorm of the day delayed proceedings. The interruption made for a difficult start and left her battling to find the key washes from the back of the group. Despite fighting hard throughout and remaining in contention for qualification positions during the early stages of the race, she ultimately finished 11th, narrowly missing out on a place in the final. Feeling unwell, the result did not fully reflect her capabilities, and she now turns her focus on rest and recovery ahead of the long course races on Saturday and Sunday.
Will Short (Elmbridge Canoe Club) was also in action in the short course heats as he stepped up to senior-level for the first time at a World Championships. A quick start kept him firmly in contention with the lead group, but incidents at both the top and bottom turns briefly cost him contact with the front paddlers. On each occasion, he worked hard to close the gap and put himself back into the fight for a qualification spot.
The race came down to a dramatic sprint finish for the final automatic qualification spot. Going head-to-head with Germany’s Paulfer and France’s Catelle, Short missed out on direct qualification by the narrowest of margins. However, his performance was rewarded as his time was fast enough to secure progression as one of the fastest qualifiers.
James Russell (Chelmsford Canoe Club) delivered one of the most assured performances of the day. A strong and confident start allowed him to establish himself on the washes immediately, before moving onto the side wash of Portugal’s Pimenta heading towards the second turn. With a clear focus on staying out of trouble, James raced with confidence and control throughout, crossing the line in second place to secure automatic qualification for the final.
As the afternoon progressed, the worsening weather once again became the story of the day. Athletes, coaches and officials waited for well over an hour in the hope that conditions would improve sufficiently for racing to continue. Ultimately, the storms refused to relent and all remaining finals were called off.
While disappointing for those who had earned their place in the finals, the early finish did at least offer the team an unexpected opportunity to recover. With racing abandoned for the day, the squad took advantage of some downtime, enjoyed some well-earned ice cream, and headed off for an early night ahead of another busy day of competition.
The competition schedule will now be adapted to accommodate the postponed short course finals before attention turns to the long course and crew boat events later in the week.
Full results are available via the Memosoft app. Follow our social media channels for behind-the-scenes content from Argentina, while all racing throughout the week will be streamed live via the Planet Canoe YouTube channel. Further viewing information can be found on our website post here.
