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Paddler Vincent Braun 12 seconds from semis at junior worlds

Pelly Vincent-Braun finished one spot back from his result last year, but he is pleased with his performance at the ICF Junior and U23 Canoe Slalom World Championships last week.
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Pelly Vincent-Braun finished one spot back from his result last year, but he is pleased with his performance at the ICF Junior and U23 Canoe Slalom World Championships last week.

The Whitehorse paddler placed 38th in junior male C-1 at the International Canoe Federation junior worlds in Krakow, Poland.

“I feel that I paddled the best that I could have with the training that I did, I’m still very happy and satisfied with my racing,” he said in a message to the News. “The only way to perform better and place higher is to do more training, especially on artificial slalom courses.

“I liked the course, (there were) lots of holes and waves to navigate. It would always be nice to have a faster time, other than that … I’m very happy with my run. It is a massive improvement from my last worlds in Brazil. In Brazil I was missing gates and flipping on my runs and this time around I had only one touch on my second run.”

Vincent-Braun, the only Canadian in the junior male solo canoe division, placed 18th out of 20 in his heat on July 12, finishing in front of paddlers from Kazakhstan and Ireland.

The 17-year-old was just 11.84 seconds from finishing in the top 10 and moving on to the semifinal.

He qualified for the team with a second-place finish at the junior/U23 Canadian team trials on the Kananaskis River near Canmore, Alta., at the end of May.

Vincent-Braun, who is named after Yukon’s Pelly River, was the first Yukoner ever to compete at the ICF junior worlds last year in Brazil, placing 37th.

He won a total of 13 medals at the last two Canadian Whitewater Championships.

“It is my first time to Europe and it’s so cool to get to see new and different places.… Right now I’m with the team in Liptovsky (Mikulas, Slovakia) training on an manmade course that is lots of fun to paddle on,” said Vincent-Braun.

“I just want to thank everyone that has helped get to my second junior worlds,” he added. “Thank you to every one that donated to my GoFundMe page and if anyone wants to follow my future endeavors I encourage you to like my athlete Facebook page at Pelly Vincent-Braun_Canoe Slalom.”

Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com