Szeged | International Canoe Federation - The ladies opened the day with K4 500m and a line-up that had an Olympic theme: reigning champion Hungarian quartet (Gabriella Szabo, Danuta Kozak, Katalin Kovacs, Krisztina Fazekas Zur) faced the Polish engine composed of Magdalena Krukowska / Karolina Naja / Beata Mikolajczyk / Edyta Dzieniszewska.

The Polish crew were asked what their tactic was, the same answer comes again and again: “a very very fast start and a very fast finish”. It worked marvelously as they controlled the race as planned to beat the Hungarian legends who must have had their mind set on their national selections in two weeks. The fight was tight though as only 38/100th separate them on the line. The Polish K4 is quite young and can aim at a medal in Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Bronze medal went to Belarus.

As the K1 1000m winner Max Hoff wittily commented: “a 500m race is over after 500 meters, not 490!” It proved to be right as the Australian Ken Wallace stormed back at the last second to cross the finish line 1/100th in front of the Hungarian Bence Dombvari and the Czech Daniel Havel. Rene Holten Poulsen (DEN) who dominated the race all along, finished fourth. Wallace himself was positively surprised by his performance. “I arrived in Europe only five days ago”, he explained. “I just came here to hear the gun go and feel the pace. I did not think I was fit enough. So winning this one is good, especially when you consider the fast guys in the race. It feels good to be back in Szeged, I am having fun.”

Certainly disappointed by his 12th place in the last Olympic Games, the Ecuadorian Cesar de Cesare set the record straight in K1 200m this weekend in Szeged by winning all his races from the heats to the Final. As if that was not enough, he decided to put 1.5 meter on the finish line between himself and the Olympic champion Ed McKeever (GBR). The latter just started to paddle again after a break post Olympics. “After my victory in London I got married and went on my honeymoon. Now I am way more relaxed than last year and I can purely enjoy paddling again. This silver medal is nice. The World Championships in Duisburg are still a really long way off.” The Polish Piotr Siemionowski grabbed the bronze medal and back to full health.

The day was marked by Russian superiority in the short races and C1 men 200m is the best illustration of this domination. Ivan Shtyl (RUS) controlled the race and showed an unmatchable power. His giant fellow countryman Nikolay Lipkin joined him in third place on the podium, leaving silver to the Lithuanian Jevgenij Shuklin. Despite his victory, Shtyl stays humble as he heads to the Russian national selections. “There are so many top-level C1 paddlers in Russia that I need to give my best every time to make sure I represent my country for the season to come”, he said.

The spectators gathered at the National Olympic Watersports Centre had to wait a few minutes to know the official results of the K1W 200 meters. Reigning World and Olympic champion Lisa Carrington (NZL) and Karolina Naja (POL), who won the gold in K4 500m with her teammates just a few minutes earlier, crossed the finish line separated by only 2/100th.  She might not be as muscular as some of her opponents, but the always smiling Kiwi proved she still was in control of this spectacular event. She confessed during the weekend that she is willing to improve her performances in the 500m event in the coming months. The Russian Natalia Podolskaya confirmed the good shape of her team and stood on the third step of the podium.

In the last Olympic event of the day, the favorite and fastest paddlers in the world Alexander Dyachenko and Yury Postrygay (RUS) imitated Ivan Shtyl in K2 200m and did not leave a chance to their opponents by literally crushing the opposition. The pair only 23 and 24 years old and can nourish ambitious dreams for the rest of their career. Will they be the first to break the 30 seconds mark? “I do not know if someone will ever do it”, said Dyachenko. “We are taking it step by step, and we’ll see where that leads us. Today was a relatively easy win as we know we are still early in the season and our most serious opponents will get ready for the European and World Championships.” Despite a bad start, the British Liam Heath offered his partner Jonathan Schofield a nice silver medal for his 28th birthday. The pair Grujic / Mitjev, third, showed that Serbia is counting on settling in the international elite of canoeing countries.

Racice, Czech republic (17-19 May) and Poznan (31 May-2 June) are the next stages of the 2013 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup.

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