Hamish Lovemore is hoping the fourth time’s the charm.
The South African kayaking star heads to the ICF canoe marathon world championships in Gyor, Hungary, this week, looking to overturn three recent straight losses to Denmark’s ace paddler.
He has taken silver behind reigning multiple world champion Mads Pedersen in three races over the past three weeks or so — in the short and long-distance events at the World Games in China, and again in the K1 5,000m at the canoe sprint world championships in Italy.
That was a huge motivation for me, just to know that I deserve to be there and racing with the best 1,000m padders in the world
— Hamish Lovemore
Lovemore would love to come forth in triumph when they resume their rivalry in the short-course 3.6km race on Thursday, which promises to be a repeat of the short race in Chengden. “I would really like to turn that result around,” said Lovemore, who was edged by 0.15sec in that battle.
“It will be almost the same athletes, but I’d really like to win that short track.”
The 26-year-old has had a challenging year, shifting his focus from marathon — where he won the under-23 world title in 2022 — to sprint training. His sojourn into sprinting started as a bid to get to the Paris Olympics last year, where he finished ninth in the K1 1000m.
Lovemore proved that that was no fluke when, in the same event at the World Cup in Szeged, Hungary, in May, he took silver against a field that featured seven paddlers from the A-final at Paris 2024, including all three Olympic medallists.
“That was a huge motivation for me, just to know that I deserve to be there and racing with the best 1,000m padders in the world,” said Lovemore, whose potential earned him a spot on the Operation Excellence programme run by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc).
The support had helped the paddler in straddling the two disciplines, which have stark differences. The sprint boat, at 12kg, is heavier than the marathon kayak, and is steered with the feet using a T-bar instead of pedals.
Weighing around 78kg, Lovemore’s quite a bit lighter than the Olympic K1 1,000m champion, Josef Dostal of the Czech Republic, who tips the scales at 115kg. “The benefit of being a marathon paddler is you have a big set of lungs, so I managed to go down the 1,000m course with my aerobic capacity, whereas the other guys are using their muscle strength.
“I think there’s many ways to approach a race, but also if I can get a bit stronger in the gym, it will be helpful,” said Lovemore, who has devised his own training programmes this year.
Lovemore focused on marathon training for the World Games. But he struggled making the transition back to sprint 10 days later, and ended 11th overall in the K1 1,000m. “I think I maybe wasn’t competing at 100% in Milan.
“I was a bit disappointed with it, I really wanted to be in the A-final, but at the same time, I think it’s more learning, to know that I can’t maybe box at the highest level in marathon and sprint so close together. But also, no regrets at all,” added Lovemore, who had the consolation of taking silver in the non-Olympic K1 5,000m.
Now it’s back to marathon this week, although Lovemore reckons the hybrid nature of his training is helping him thrive in the short-distance race. “The short-course with the sprint training now, it’s almost become my main event,” said Lovemore, who crossed the line second in this race at last year’s marathon world championships behind — surprise surprise — Pedersen, who is also bidding for his fourth straight long-course crown.
Lovemore will have countryman and Olympic K2 partner Andy Birkett, a two-time marathon K1 world champion, racing alongside him in the longer competition on Saturday, but his goal there is a little more tempered. “It would be just great if I could medal, that would be like a win for me.”
The ICF surfski world championships are being hosted in Durban in October, but Lovemore, who lives nearby in Umdloti, is taking that less seriously. “It’s been such a [hectic] year. The race is here on our doorstep, so I’ll do it for fun and just take part in probably one of Durban’s biggest canoe races, which will be amazing.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.