Mexico's Canoe Team Chases Olympic Glory in Sarasota

The national canoe team traveled this Sunday to the United States, to compete in the Olympic Qualifier and the Pan American Canoe Championship (2024 COPAC Canoe Sprint Pan American Championships & Olympic Qualifier) that will take place from April 23 to 25, in Sarasota, Florida.

The team is made up of 10 canoeists who will seek to place themselves in the first places in this continental competition, to access the Olympic event in the French capital, in which the canoeing tests are scheduled from August 6 to 10, at the Nautical Stadium of Vaires-Sur-Marne.

“I see the team with a very positive attitude, with good energy, they have been training at sea level and also here in Mexico City. The women's kayak, with Beatriz Briones and Karina Alanís, held a camp in Sarasota, while the rest of the team was in Tampico, Tamaulipas, with very strong training,” Martha Hernández, president of the Mexican Canoe Federation, said in an interview. (FMC).

In this Qualifier, Mexico will appear in the kayak events with the champions of the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, Karina Alanís Morales and Beatriz Briones Fragoza, in K2 500 meters; Daniel Ledesma Alarcón in K1 1000m and the duo made up of Alberto Briones Fragoza, and José Roberto Eguía Alcázar in K2 500m.

In the canoe competitions there will be: Nicol Guzmán Pimentel in C1 200m; the pair made up of Ana Cecilia Martínez González and Maricela Montemayor Rodríguez in C2 500m and Guillermo Quirino Medrano in C1 1000m and in pairs with Gustavo Adrián Eslava Rosas in C2 500m.

“To qualify for the Olympic Games they need to be in the first places in the qualifiers; “We have very strong expectations with the K2 of Karina Alanís and Beatriz Briones and with Nicol Guzmán in the C1,” said the federation.

The Aztec team will have a week of training and acclimatization in Florida, to compete in the competition that represents their last opportunity to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.