Hartley takes bronze in Moscow

Hartley came into the event having had a disrupted season, but showed her tactical acumen by racing well into the women’s 500 metres A final, and then using her trademark surge through the final 250 metres to clinch the bronze medal behind Hungarian ace Danuta Kozak and New Zealander Lisa Carrington.

“It felt like I was getting a temperature when I was warming up ,” said Hartley after the race.

“I told myself that it didn’t matter if I got sick, I just had to push through to my last final. It probably helped that I wasn’t putting pressure on myself to get a medal actually.”

It was a fast finish to the race and Hartley said she was not sure if she had claimed the bronze medal.

“Going into the last twenty strokes I felt that I was in the mix and I just concentrated on taking it all the way to the line. When I crossed the line I thought Germany had got the third, and even when I was called to boat weigh-in I wasn’t sure.

“Then I was told that I had to be ready for the medal ceremony in ten minutes. That’s when I knew.”

Later in the day Hartley added a solid seventh in the women’s 200m K1 final to her credit, wrapping up a good weekend for the South African team.

Under-23 speedster Chrisjan Coetzee raced into the 200m K1 C final in his first senior world championship outing, and the crew of Ali Glass and Ant Collopy did just as well, making the 1000m C final.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, South African paddlers powered to podium finishes in the men’s and women’s K2 races at the 78th Sella Descent in Spain, with Andy Birkett and Greg Louw finishing third overall, and Abby Adie and her partner Laura O’Donaghue convincingly winning the women’s race.

– Sapa