Brabants has taken a year off, while Hemmings has retired

GB's flatwater canoeing squad for their first World Cup of 2009 features just two Olympians, in the absence of Tim Brabants and Anna Hemmings.

Double Beijing medallist Brabants will not compete at the top level this year, to concentrate on his medical career.

And Hemmings, who battled back from chronic fatigue syndrome to compete in her second Olympics, retired in April.

Lucy Wainwright and Jess Walker remain in the squad for this weekend's event in Poznan, Poland.

Great Britain did not compete in the first of the three World Cup races, in the Czech Republic earlier this month.

Over the winter I didn't enjoy the day to day grind of training Anna Hemmings

Hemmings, who failed to qualify for the final of the kayak double 500m in Beijing, formally announced her decision to retire at the age of 32, after 15 years with the GB senior squad

"Over the winter I didn't enjoy the day-to-day grind of training," she said.

"Training is so intense, and volume so great that you've got to enjoy it and, when you stop enjoying it, it's time to move on."

Brabants, who won Olympic gold over 1,000m and bronze at 500m in the kayak single, had hinted he would return to action for this year's World Championships in Canada in August.

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He has since decided he needs to give full attention to emergency medicine this year.

However, he has been active in triathlon and rowing events and is taking part in a 19-mile ocean rowing race from Sark to Jersey in July.

Ed McKeever (500m) and Jonathan Boyton (1000m) take over from Brabants in the K1 events in Poznan.

Rutherford, 18, won gold at the 2009 Australian Youth Olympic Festival in January, competes alongside Ed Cox in the men's K2 1000m.

Wainwright, who finished seventh in the K1 500m in Beijing, moves into the double with Lani Belcher, who switched to Britain from Australia in December.

And Wainwright is joined by Walker is in one of two four-woman kayaks for the 500m races.

GB squad for Poznan World Cup:

Men's kayak single (K1): Ed McKeever (500m), Jonathan Boyton (1000m)

Men's K2: Ben Brown, Jonnie Schofield (500m); Ed Cox, Ed Rutherford (1000m)

Men's K4: Ben Farrell, Stuart Hastings, Paul Wycherley, Andy Daniels (1000m)

Men's canoes single (C1): James Train (500m and 1000m), Matt Lawrence (1000m)

Women's K1: Rachel Cawthorn (500m and 1000m)

Women's K2: Lani Belcher, Lucy Wainwright (500m and 1000m)

Women's K4: Abigail Edmonds, Jenna Hawkey, Angela Hannah, Victoria Towers (500m); Jess Walker, Louisa Sawers, Hayleigh Mason, Lucy Wainwright (500m)

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