Britain's top U23 & Junior slalom paddlers resumed their selection series in Nottingham, as they battled for places on the 2024 international teams on day one of the two day competition.
With races one and two completed at Lee Valley White Water Centre across Easter weekend, the rising stars of slalom travelled to Holme Pierrepont to contest in rounds three to six.
Paris 2024 selected Olympians Kimberley Woods, Joe Clarke MBE, Mallory Franklin and Adam Burgess were also in Nottingham as they step up their preparations for the Games this summer with more race practice.
Impressive runs from Ben Haylett (Holme Pierrepont) maintained his place at the top of the U23 men's kayak standings as he took maximum points again on his home course from races three and four.
Finishing second place just behind Paris-bound Joe Clarke MBE in race three, Ben topped the leaderboard in race four, giving him four out of four U23 wins so far this series.
Ben said:
“Really pleased with my day of racing. It was great to come here after a great weekend at Lee Valley and produce it again. Great, consistent start to the season for me. It's great to be on it.
“Always nice to race here at Holme Pierrepont. It's great to be back where I grew up on the water.
“I'd already secured my kayak cross place, but this is a different discipline and a different goal so I'm delighted to do well.”
Sam Leaver (Edinburgh Schools) added a second place to his points tally this series, as did Erin Yelken (Lee Valley) in race four, with just two places available due to Jonny Dickson's (CR Cats) pre-selection.
Much like Ben, Jonah Hanrahan (Independent) also heads into the final day with maximum points banked from his four races so far this series.
His quickest time of 103.40 puts the junior men's kayak athlete in strong contention for a second season on the junior international team.
An impressive first run of the day from Zoe Blythe-Shields (Lee Valley) saw her take another win in the U23 women's canoe, ahead of Rachel Ellis (Lee Valley) who got a second place during the morning's racing.
Zoe's performance also gave her a third win in her junior campaign.
Returning for the afternoon, Rachel Ellis went one better in race four to take the U23 win ahead of junior athlete Arina Kontchakov (Lee Valley), with her time of 140.63 enough to be top junior of the round.
Rachel said: “I'm relatively happy with my deliveries today. It's my home course so I know these waters well. There were a few mistakes in my runs but overall I'm pleased with what I achieved.
“It's great to race here. I train here day in, day out and I feel I'm really confident with a lot of the moves. I just had to deliver it when it mattered.”
Luc Royle (Stafford & Stone) enjoyed a successful day in the U23 men's canoe, taking maximum points from races three and four, adding to his two second places he accumulated at Lee Valley.
Stafford & Stone clubmate Kurts Adams Rozentals headed to Nottingham with two U23 victories under his belt from Lee Valley, and he backed that with two second places on day one in search of another season on the international circuit.
Adam Burgess topped the overall leaderboard with a confident run, whilst William Kettle (Lee Valley) was top performing C1M junior of the day, following on from a strong showing on his local course of Lee Valley during Easter weekend.
With Lois Leaver (Edinburgh Schools) already pre-selected in the U23 women's kayak, Macy Kang (Holme Pierrepont) put down a great first run to take top spot in race three of the selection series ahead of Ellis Miller (Lee Valley)
With maximum points under her belt from Easter weekend, Ellis strengthened her bid for a place on the team, taking her third victory of the series with a win in race four.
Mallory Franklin and Kimberley Woods secured top three finishes on both runs overall, whilst Sofia Alfer (Wydean) was the top women's kayak junior in race three and Zoe Blythe-Shields improved on her first run to take the win in race four.
You can find all the results from day one of the weekend here