Marietta Canoeist Earns Olympic Slot

Jeff Larimer of Marietta and Eric Hurd of Woodstock won the gold medal and earned a 2012 Olympic boat quota slot for Team USA in the men’s C-2 final Saturday at the 2012 Slalom Pan American Championships in Foz do Iguassu, Brazil.

“It feels good to qualify the Olympic spot for the U.S. It was a full team effort, and it’s good to know that USA will be represented in C2 at London," Larimer said in a release.

The duo finished in 107.13, 2.16 seconds ahead of the second-place finishers from Brazil.

Larimer, 30, and Hurd, 25, after two qualifying heats, trailing the Canadian duo of James and Adam Cutts. Hurd and Larimer moved ahead of the Canadians with a semifinal time of 105.76, including two penalty seconds. 

Hurd and Larimer will have to compete to be named the U.S. athletes to fill the men’s C-2 boat at London 2012. The 2012 U.S. Olympic Team will be determined by performances at the 2012 Slalom National Team Trials in Charlotte, NC, April 12 to 14, and the first stop on the 2012 World Cup circuit.

"An Olympic berth is everything," Larimer said in the release. "It is the reason we are still doing it after all these years of not making it. Between now and trials, we plan on hitting the gym and doing as many curls as we can.”

In 2011, Hurd and Larimer finished 18th at the 2011 World Cup No. 3 and 32nd at the 2011 World Championships.

Larimer, 30, is a carpenter and attended Georgia State University.