SINGAPORE – Sore arms, calluses and blisters are all part of kayaking. But Singaporean kayaker Stephanie Chen not only had to endure long-lasting scars after the race, but also the agony of missing out on an Olympic spot by less than a second.
To exorcise those demons, the 32-year-old is training hard on Australia’s Gold Coast in preparation for the Asian Canoe Sprint Olympic Qualifiers, which will be held in Tokyo from April 18 to 21.
As kayakers aim to qualify for the Paris Games, two spots are up for grabs, up from just one in the previous qualifier.
Chen missed out on a spot in the women’s singles K1 500m by just 0.938 seconds at the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Pattaya in May 2021. She took second place with a time of 1:54.649, securing her sole spot with winner Natalia Sergeyeva of Kazakhstan.
The next day’s K1 200m race was even more tragically close, with only 0.067 seconds separating him from the ticket to the Tokyo Olympics.
She finished third with a time of 40.325 seconds, behind Kazakhstan’s Inna Kulinova (40.123 seconds) and Japan’s Yuka Ono (40.258 seconds). Since Kazakhstan had already secured an Olympic berth, Ono earned a berth in the K1 200m.
Regarding the double whammy of 2021, Chen said: I really wanted to do better next time. I missed both events by one place, so it wasn’t fun.
“But I know that sometimes you lose and that makes winning better. It hurt, but I took lessons from every race and tried to improve.”
This improvement led to a historic feat at the Hangzhou Games last October, when Chen won a historic silver medal at the Asian Games.
“My performance at the Asian Games shows that I am on the right path. But I don’t want to count my chickens before they hatch. There are always surprises in Asia. Qualifying is not guaranteed. Not really, but I have a good chance,” said Chen, who is aiming to compete in the K1 500m.
Singaporean canoeist Lucas Teo is in the same position, albeit not literally, but the 33-year-old is equally determined to earn his first Olympic berth.
As part of his preparations for the April qualifiers, Teo competed in the Singapore Canoe Marathon at the Sports Hub Water Sports Centre. He had nearly 800 participants compete in the two-day event.
He is aiming to secure an Olympic berth in the men’s K1 1,000m, but by competing in the marathon, he beat 22 other competitors in the men’s K1 28km event on January 20th in 2 hours 18 minutes and 9 seconds. I was able to win and gain championship experience.
Like Chen, Teo also gained confidence at the Asiad, finishing fifth out of nine with a time of 3:56.235, less than five seconds behind the bronze medalist.
A year ago, Teo won his second gold medal in the SEA Games individual canoe category in seven years at the men’s K1 1,000m in Hanoi.