Maley Sets Sights on Slalom World Championships

Kynan Maley at 2003 EnergyAustralia Canoe Slalom World Cup

The young C1 paddler has been impressive in recent performances including a win at both the Pre-Australian and Australian Slalom Championships where he completely dominated the Open Men’s C1 event. He simply outclassed the field on both occasions finishing well clear of the place getters. AIS/NCE Head Coach Mike Druce put Maley's success down to his accuracy with two clean runs in both events. As a result he picked up the Peter Grey Trophy as Champion C1 Slalom paddler.

Kynan’s bronze medal in the Men’s C1, was the only medal Australia won at the Freestyle World Championships. He was eliminated with a score of 137.08 in the second last round requiring less than two points more to go through ahead of Frenchman Marc Giardin. Ironically, the score would have been enough for silver had he made the final round. His achievement demonstrates his paddling prowess amongst a classy international field and further consolidates his place in the senior slalom team.

Maley, who's currently training in WA as part of his Western Australia Institute of Sport (WAIS) individual scholarship, has evidently enjoyed both disciplines much to the benefit of his paddling in general. There are several common skills in the two classes and Kynan has managed to make the best of both worlds with his training and performances in each complimenting the other. Whilst Freestyle is not an Olympic sport, it offers a unique opportunity to work on strength, technical manoeuvres and having fun whereas slalom is a high performance sport and provides an opportunity to compete at an Olympic level.

'I rely on my slalom training for all my fitness and the really valuable crossover is in the psychological work with the Institutes/slalom team and the technical aspects of slalom help a lot in learning all the freestyle moves.  It's all just paddling a canoe so all the awesome things we get out of the AIS/WAIS/AC coaches and staff cross really well to freestyle.'

Kynan was unlucky in missing the Athens Olympics after qualifying the C1 place for Australia at the 2003 World Canoe Slalom Championships in Augsburg where he finished 9th. His disappointment has merely fuelled his determination to succeed and it is now obvious just how committed he is to reaching his goals. He is currently training twice a day with nearly half of those sessions on the whitewater and focusing strongly on core stability and his weaknesses. In addition, he balances his training with study which fills in the gaps! He is studying mechanical engineering at Sydney uni and it certainly keeps him busy.

With a string of wins to his name, Maley now has his sights firmly set on the 2005 Slalom World Championships in September.

'I would definitely love to take home a medal from the Worlds in Australia (and at the World Cups). Its the next step up but I think the program I have at the moment is really good and the whole aussie team is going to go really well.'

Kynan contributes his success largely to the AIS and AC national team program which has helped him develop as an athlete and also the current Australian paddling scene.

'I got so much help from other paddlers that push you to learn the moves and feed you with new ideas.  Oh yeah, and they make it fun to go out there every day.'

If Kynan can continue to produce such stunning results, he will give himself every opportunity to emulate his idol Fabien LeFevre in reaching World Champion status.

Other Links
	Kynan's Profile
	Find out more about WAIS
	Find out more about AIS