Pendle's home club Norwich held their Hasler marathon last weekend

Tim Pendle is in confident mood as he heads to Hungary for the World Cup sprint event in Szeged.

The 20-year-old from Norfolk will team up with Mark Childerstone in the 1000m K2 (pairs) category.

For Pendle the event is another major step in his career as he makes his sprint race debut for Great Britain.

"This is my first major sprint international, I'm really looking forward to it and hoping to put down a good time," he told BBC Radio Norfolk.

"I've been training with Mark and we've been putting some good times down, at the Olympics in 2008 their times were about three minutes 16 seconds, three minutess 18 seconds, and we're putting times down of around three minutes 22 seconds.

"A little bit off the pace but it's only my second senior year and we only put this K2 team together at the beginning of the year, but it's running really well and we're hoping for a good result," he said.

Pendle made his debut for Great Britain over marathon distance in the 2008 European Championships.

The only flat-water canoe disciplines to feature at the Olympics are the sprint events, so Pendle says he hopes that working with the GB sprinters could help him get to London 2012.

"I'm training with all the guys who are heading to London 2012, but I'm a step behind at the moment because they've got a few years on me," he said.

"I'm training with Tim Brabants, the gold medal holder over 1000m, for the last three weeks at Dorney Lake where the Olympics will be held," he said.

"He's flying at the moment and I'm happy to say I'm on his tail, not a million miles away from where I want to be."

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