Jemma takes gold in canoe world championships

Jemma SmithJemma Smith of Umina

Umina’s Jemma Smith has taken out the gold in the Womens Under-23 event at the ICF Canoe Ocean Racing World Championships in France on September 11.

Jemma came off a strong performance at the Under-23 Canoe Sprint World Championships to land the gold, finishing fourth overall in a field that contained Olympians and world champions. It was very exciting, she said. A long way, but quite enjoyable towards the end when I saw the finish and to do so well. I had absolutely no idea where I was. At about the four kilometre mark, everybody split and went their own way, and from then you’ve got boys coming past you, and you have no idea where anyone is. You just hope you’ve picked the right line and you’ll end up at the finish line, Smith said.

Smiths gold was the highlight of the Australias five medal haul.

SOURCE: Media release, 11 Sep 2019 Phil Jones, Paddle Australia