RIO DE JANEIRO — Kayaker Angus Mortimer paddled to singles gold at the Pan American Games on Friday, and he would like nothing better than to repeat that feat a year from now in Beijing.
But with Olympic gold medallist Adam van Koeverden standing in his way, Mortimer may have to settle for racing with a crew at the 2008 Summer Games.
Van Koeverden won gold in the K-1 500-metre race and won a bronze in the 1,000 at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. The Oakville, Ont., native currently leads the World Cup standings after winning six races this season and is favoured to be Canada's representative in the K-1 events in Beijing.
Over the next couple months, Mortimer will have to decide if he'll try to get to the Beijing by earning a seat in a crew boat, or if he should take on van Koeverden in the K-1.
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"(Beating van Koeverden for the Olympic seat) is obviously a very difficult task," said Mortimer. "I'll have to make some tough decisions about that."
Mortimer was first in the men's K-1 1,000-metre race Friday in a time of three minutes 39.519 seconds while Sebastian Cuattrin of Brazil was second in 3:42.725 and Jorge Garcia of Cuba was third in 3:44.341.
It was a good start for the Canadian team, which went on to win three more medals on the first day of finals.
Mortimer, 21, later stroked the men's K-4 boat to a silver in the 1,000 metres while Benjamin Russell of Dartmouth, N.S., picked up a bronze in the men's C-1 1,000 and the women's K-4 crew finished third in the 500.
Canada won seven medals in canoe/kayak at the 2003 Pan Am Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, including two golds. Mortimer could pocket his second gold on Saturday when he races in the 500 metres.
"This is an improvement over the last Games," said Graham Barton, Canada's high performance director. "We've already got a gold, plus three medals now so we're really happy with that."
The men's K-4 crew of Mortimer, Chris Pellini of Mississauga, Ont., Mark de Jonge of Halifax and Jeremy Bordeleau of Dartmouth were in fifth spot at the 750-metre mark before making a big push for the finish line in the final 250.
"We knew that if we stuck to our plan and went for our finish with 200 metres left that we'd be able to pass lots of crews," said Mortimer. "Maybe if there was another 100 metres we would have got first. But we're really happy with second."
Russell was third in 4:09.598 while world champion Jose Cristobal of Mexico won gold in 4:01.532.
The women's K-4 crew of Jill D'Alessio of Middle Sackville, N.S., Kia Byers of Regina, Camille Tessier-Bussieres of Lac Beauport, Que., and Marie-Christine Schmidt of Lachine, Que., took the bronze in 1:42.246. Cuba captured gold in 1:40.702 while Venezuela was second in 1:40.788.
In other races, Colin Corbett of Dartmouth and Wesley Hammer of Halifax were fourth in the K-2 1,000 while Mark Klevinas of Burlington, Ont., and Jamie Andison of Oakville were fourth in the men's C-2 1,000 metres.
Canada elected to bring an under-23 team to the Pan Ams while most of the senior squad, including van Koeverden, prepared for next month's world championships in Duisburg, Germany. But many countries, including Cuba and Brazil, are using the competition as a tune-up for the world regatta and have brought their top senior paddlers.
"A lot of these kids could be part of Beijing but we're looking forward to seeing them in London in 2012," Barton said of the Canadian team.
There will be Olympic berths on the line at the world championships with the top seven boats in singles and the top six crew boats earning spots in Beijing. While locking up an Olympic spot will go a long way when it comes time to name the Canadian team, it's not a guarantee that athlete who earns it Duisburg will end up in the boat in China. Canada will go through its own internal selection process next year.
Paddling is in Mortimer's blood. He followed his siblings into the sport when he was nine years old. His brother Ian is also a member of the national team and won a medal at the 2003 Pan Am Games.
"It's a family thing," said Mortimer. "My mother is the commodore of the Rideau Canoe Club."
A music student at Carleton University, Mortimer is only able to go to school during the fall because he is too busy training in the spring. He admits his studies have taken a backseat to his paddling career for now. He grew up playing the piano and the organ and studied performance music in his first year. But he realized the workload was too much to carry along with his training so he changed his focus at school to music history and theory.
"I used to play a lot but now it's mostly sports," he said. "Music's just for fun."
While he's a longshot to be in the K-1 events at the Olympics, Mortimer hopes he's on the same path as van Koeverden.
"I'd like to think so," he said. "I have a great deal of respect for Adam. I've trained with him since I was 16 and hopefully one day I'll be able to live up to the success he's had internationally. For the time being, I'm happy where I am and I'm happy to be here and I'm happy to win a gold in the 1,000."
