Gold in Portugal

Canoe sprint athlete Riley Fitzsimmons is the newest NSWIS world champion following a stirring performance to win gold with Jordan Wood at the 2015 ICF Junior and Under-23 World Championships in Portugal.

Fitzsimmons and Wood teamed in the U23 men’s K2 1000m to claim gold, holding off challengers from the Czech Republic by just over half a second to claim the win in 3:15.824.

The gold comes in Fitzsimmons’ first year of racing at the U23 level and one year after winning junior world champinship bronze in 2014. Both Fitzsimmons and Wood will compete at the senior world championships next month as part of the Australian men’s K4 1000m crew.

“I am pretty speechless right now. I only started this sport three years ago and to think I would be world champ right now, it is pretty crazy so I am on top of the world right now,” Fitzsimmons said to Canoe Australia after the win.

Fitzsimmons and Wood then joined compatriots Joel McKitterick and Jy Duffy to finish fourth in the U23 men’s K4 1000m final, with fellow NSWIS athlete Rachel Duncan finishing eighth in the junior women’s K4 500m and Ella Beere taking seventh in the junior women’s K1 200m.