Mike Ballard is looking to cap his first month as a full-time kayaker with a podium finish at the Pan-Am Canoe Sprint Championships.
The Abu Dhabi-based paddler is in Nova Scotia for the event, which involves competitors from North, Central and South America.
He will go in the six-man final of the KL2 on Wednesday. Ballard is well acquainted with his rivals, given each was involved in the World Championships at the same venue last week.
Ballard exited that event at the semi-final stage, with Argentina’s Ariel Atamanuk dominating the race. Atamanuk is the clear favourite for the Pan-Am title, but Ballard is hopeful of challenging the rest of the field. “It is a local derby in which there are much less likely to be world-record speeds [than at the World Championships],” Ballard said. “If I can catch the Uruguayan competitor, that will mean I have raced a really good race, and if I can catch Canada, that will mean a place on the podium.