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Wednesday, September 27, 2000
All of Hawaii's boat people in the Olympics remain in contention for medals. Newton, Colin making
waves for U.S.By Pat Bigold
Star-BulletinPeter Newton yesterday qualified with partner Angel Perez for the K-2 500-meter semifinals at Penrith International Regatta Center .
Newton, the sprint captain and America's top-ranked kayaker, earlier qualified for Friday's K-4 1,000-meter final.
In K-1 women's 500-meter heat,, Kailua's Kathy Colin finished sixth to earn a spot in tomorrow's semifinals.
A little more than an hour later, Colin teamed with Tamara Jenkins of Seattle to finish fifth in their heat and earn a spot in the finals of that event.
"The K-1 race was a little harder than I thought," Colin said.
"But it calmed my nerves down and I felt good and ready for the K-2."
In their K-2 heat 1, Newton and Perez had problems at the start, but were able to come in fourth to earn their berth in the semifinals.
"We broke down in the start after the first transition (at 100 meters) and the others started to get ahead here," said Newton.
Meanwhile, with four Laser class races to go in the 11-races series on Sydney Harbor, Kailua's John Myrdal remained in 17th place as poor wind conditions cancelled yesterday's competition.
Racing resumes today with officials attempting to get in as many as three races, if possible. The Laser competition is due to finish tomorrow but officials said racing could be extended into Friday.
Myrdal has caught fire in the last two races, finishing second in both.
But Myrdal's two consecutive second-place finishes have given him momentum he hopes to ride back into medal contention.
Colin has been surprised at the celebrity attention she's getting as an Olympian in Sydney.
When she and Jenkins visited a Sydney retail outlet to take advantage of an offer of free merchandise for athletes, they were mobbed by autograph seekers. They figured they should not have worn their USA team jackets into the crowd.