U.S. Olympic Team watch

This past weekend, Carrie Johnson of San Diego became the first paddler to make the U.S. Olympic team.  By virtue of her strong performances in 2011, all Johnson had to do was win the women's 500-meter kayak race at the U.S. Team Trials at Oklahoma City, and she did just that, clocking 1 minute, 57.76 seconds.  If another paddler had won the race, she would have had to beat Johnson again in the first World Cup race to claim the Olympic berth.  But Johnson took care of business and is now a three-time Olympian.

The women's 500-meter kayak spot is one of only two berths the U.S. has qualified for the Olympic flatwater regatta this summer.  The other is a spot in the men's 200-meter kayak race, and Ryan Dolan of Kailua, Hawaii, was in the same position as Johnson: if he won the 200 meters at Trials, he was on the Olympic team.  But Tim Hornsby of Atlanta edged Dolan by eight tenths of a second, so now Dolan and Hornsby will move on to the first World Cup race to decide who goes to London.  World Cup #1 will be May 19-20 at Poznan, Poland.

On the whitewater side, the U.S. National Team was selected in a Team Trials at Charlotte on April 13-15.  The national team consists of three boats in each class, but only one boat in each of the four Olympic classes-- ladies' kayak, men's single canoe, men's double canoe, and men's kayak--will compete in London.  The athletes who will fill those spots will be decided in the first World Cup race at Cardiff, Wales, on June 8-10.

The whitewater slalom competition for the London Olympics will take place from July 29 to August 2 at the Lee Valley White Water Centre in Hertfordshire.  The Olympic flatwater sprint regatta will be August 6-11 at Eton Dorney, Buckinghamshire.