U.S. Flatwater Sprint Nationals: Malloch leaves failure in his wake

Four years is a long time to wait for redemption. Jordan Malloch is taking it a single paddle stroke at a time.

The two-time Olympic sprint canoeist still grimaces at his 13th-place finish in last summer's Athens Games, where he and partner Nate Johnson, a fellow Seattleite, posted a time slower than they had raced in prior months.

But Malloch, 26, is trying to turn that angst into fuel for Beijing, aiming for the 2008 Summer Games with a new, younger partner, David Aldrich, 19, of San Diego.

Yesterday, the pair blew away the field at the U.S. Flatwater Sprint Nationals at Green Lake, winning the 1,000-meter doubles canoe race with ease — or at least as much ease as one can muster paddling an extremely tippy canoe, flat out, from a crouched position for nearly five minutes.

Malloch, a Nathan Hale High School grad and Seattle Canoe and Kayak Club racer, was all grins on the shoreline. Not just because he won — he and Aldrich clearly were the class of this field — but because in the process, the new partners felt themselves beginning to click as a single unit.

"We were feeling each other really well on the water," Aldrich said.

"The feeling is huge," Malloch agreed.

Sprint racers crouch on one knee, paddling on the same side of the canoe throughout the race. The front paddler (Aldrich) steers and sets the pace, and the back paddler simply matches his strokes, serving as an engine.

It works especially well for these two because Malloch's stroke tends to be extra powerful at its finish; Aldrich's is stronger at the beginning. The result: smooth, powerful propulsion.

It earned the duo a national title yesterday, and the teammates hope it will provide momentum for a strong finish at the Sprint World Championships, which begin Aug. 25 in Zagreb, Croatia.

Their goal in that event, usually dominated by Europeans: a top-12 finish. No U.S. paddler has finished that high in a long time, said Malloch, who gathered another first-place medal earlier in the day by winning the men's 1,000-meter canoe singles race.

Malloch and Aldrich expect to get stronger — and faster — with more time together on the water.

Joining them in Zagreb will be Seattle teammate Lauren Austin, 19, who celebrated her first year on the U.S. national team yesterday by winning the 1,000-meter women's kayak doubles with partner Katie Hagler of Georgia.

Austin and Hagler are also a relatively new pair, just starting to get a taste of their own potential.

"I feel like our race plan really came together," said Austin, who just completed her freshman year at Washington.

Austin later was edged out by a more experienced nemesis, Morgan Feori of San Diego, for the women's singles 1,000-meter crown

This year's Sprint Nationals, which continue on Green Lake through Saturday, are lacking some of the big-name paddlers often found in the event. It's the year after an Olympics, when a handful of veteran paddlers tend to retire. And some of the top U.S. paddlers already are in Europe, prepping for the World Championships.

That leaves plenty of spotlight for paddling's next generation, which put on a bright display under gray skies on the somewhat-windy, 1,000-meter course yesterday. Particularly of note were youngsters from one of the nation's newest and most impressive young teams — the Gig Harbor Canoe and Kayak Club.

A standout Gig Harbor group was the young four-person kayak team of Katrina Batina, Annie Truscott, Emily Winskill and Kelsey Baker — all 15- and 16-year-olds who have been friends since kindergarten and pledged long ago to make big waves in kayaking.

The same group failed to place at last year's races in Georgia but destroyed all competition yesterday, winning their age-group 1,000-meter race by more than 25 seconds.

USACK Sprint National Championships

At Green Lake, Seattle, WA

(Race distance in meters)

SENIOR FINALS

K-4 Women's 1000

Cheryl Smith/Amy Penland/Katie Hagler/Anne Blanchard, LCKC, 04:52.84

C-1 Men's 1000

Jordan Malloch, SCKC, 04:25.09

David Aldrich, SDCK, 04:41.46

David Fort, SCKC, 04:54.03

K-1 Men's 1000

Markin Borys, GHCK-I, 03:55.48

Graham Smith, RCKC-I, 04:00.60

Pat Dolan, HCKT, 04:03.75

C-4 Men's 1000

Balazs Hunek/Andrew Soles/Even Wade/Alejandro Schwedhelm, 04:09.80

C-2 Women's 1000

Megan Palmer/Amina Saleh, SCKC, 05:41.40

K-2 Women's 1000

Katie Hagler/Lauren Austin, 04:13.92

Emily Mickle/Ann Hollingshead, 04:25.57

Amy Penland/Anne Blanchard, 05:05.22 3

C-2 Men's 1000

Jordan Malloch/David Aldrich, 03:54.03

Nate Johnson/David Fort, 04:33.12

Even Wade/Alejandro Schwedhelm, 04:42.02

K-2 Men's 1000

Eric Abbott/Pat Dolan, 03:46.71

Markin Borys/Valeriy Yefaemov, 03:46.94

Graham Smith/Sean Franklin, 03:50.84

K-4 Men's 1000

Aasim Saleh/Markin Borys/Andrey Poluektov/Valeriy Yefaemov, 03:27.89

Tom Dziadkowiec/Andrew Soles/Geoff Calhoun/James Super, 03:31.85

Chris Henderson/Donald Kiesling/Juraj Osusky/Peter Turcan, 03:37.88

K-1 Women's 1000

Morgan Feori, SDCK, 04:39.32

Lauren Austin, SCKC, 04:42.75

Ron Judd: 206-464-8280 or at rjudd@seattletimes.com