2015 ICF World Championships Slalom
 
1
2
3
K1M
CZ J. PRSKAVEC
PL M. POLACZYK
US M. SMOLEN
K1W
CZ K. KUDEJOVA
DE R. FUNK
DE M. PFEIFER
C1M
GB D. FLORENCE
SI B. SAVSEK
GB R. WESTLEY
C1W
AU J. FOX
CZ K. HOSKOVA
ES N. VILARRUBLA
C2
DE ANTON/BENZIEN
FR PICCO/BISO
FR KLAUSS/PECHE

Canoe Sprint

Duisburg: resounding success as World Champs host

canoe kayak sprint world championships 2013 icf duisburg germany competition results sportscene

Guy Dresser | Sportscene - As the music at the after-event party cranked up to full volume, the verdict of competitors and spectators alike was unanimous - it was a brilliant World Canoe Sprint Championships.

Superlative performances by some established favourites at Duisburg came alongside those by some emerging stars in this post-Olympic year.

Ken Wallace

Among the old guard was Australia’s 30 year old Ken Wallace, back in K1 at this championships and arguably ‘man-of-the-match’ in mens singles. He staged an incredible come-back in the 1,000m to take a much-deserved silver behind home favourite and Olympic bronze medalist Max Hoff. Lying in last place at the 500m mark many commentators had written the Australian off but he clawed his way back through the field to finish just 0.4 seconds behind the very impressive German.

It was an incredible comeback by Wallace, underlined by his victory in the 5,000m which he took with consummate ease on Sunday. Then, just three hours later and in an apparently bizarre piece of timetabling, Wallace went out to contest the 500m final.

canoe kayak sprint world championships 2013 icf duisburg germany competition results sportscene Sadly it proved a race too far after his domination of the long-distance event. Wallace himself questioned the timetabling of events in an interview and one had to question why the long-distance race was held before all the sprint finals had been run - in years gone by the 10,000 metre events were usually  held at the very end of the racing programme.

As it was, the Australian blew a gasket towards the end of his 500m final and finished in ninth place. Even if he’d been fresh he’d have had his work cut out against seriously strong 20 year old Tom Liebscher who set the fastest time in the 500m semi-finals. Liebscher, widely fancied in the German press before the event after a series of impressive international performances so far this year, more than delivered with a blistering first 250m. He took 500m honours with relative ease, ahead of Rene Holten Poulsen of Denmark in second and Frenchman Arnaud Hybois in third.

Women's Kayak

In women’s kayak, some of the top Olympians from London 2012 proved they still have what it takes. Hungarian double Olympic champion, Danuta Kozak, took World Championship gold in the 500m singles, winning by almost a full second ahead of second-placed Katrin Wagner-Augustin and New Zealand’s Lisa Carrington in third. The field was packed with Olympic finalists - Britain’s Rachel Cawthorn, South African Bridgitte Hartley and the Dane Henriette Hansen all finished out of the medals, an undoubted disappointment for Hartley, South Africa’s bronze medallist in London last year, who only manage eighth place.

Carrington, meanwhile, hid any disappointment at not winning and came back to take a decisive win in the 200m singles race. Speaking after her 200m win, the reigning Olympic champion declared herself well satisfied with her medal haul.

canoe kayak sprint world championships 2013 icf duisburg germany competition results sportscene “I’m taking a break and I’m going to the surf life saving international challenge in Japan in two weeks’ time,” she told interviewers.

Carrington’s fellow compatriot, Teneale Hatton, won the non-Olympic 5,000m title.

Hatton, who also hails from a surf lifesaving background, blew the rest of the field away to finish some 22 seconds ahead of second placed Renata Csay of Hungary.

Men's Kayak

While Wallace may have impressed in K1, the Australian foursome were impressive in the men’s K4 1,000m, if somewhat less ‘awesome’ than they were in London. Still in the medals with a solid third place, the Australians did well to scoop the bronze behind Russia and the Czech Republic in 2.59.94. The Russians went off very hard in the next-door lane to the Australians and held on to a clear lead, finishing in 2.58.69 with the Czechs second in 2.59.37, a tantalising margin for 1,000m.

Margins were, of course, tighter still in the men’s 200m racing. In the singles it was hard to pick the likely winner from the heats and semis. Olympic champion Ed McKeever was pipped into second place in his semi-final by the Lithuanian Ignas Navakauskas, a result which led some to question whether the Briton could win in the final. There were also strong performances by Canadian Olympic bronze medalist Mark de Jonge and by the 2011 World Champion Piotr Siemionowski of Poland on their way to the final.

Siemionowski beat Spain’s Olympic silver medalist, Saul Craviotto Rivero, in their semi-final, a win that appeared to indicate he too was set for a great final. In the end, however, it was not to be - and European champion Petter Ostrom of Sweden took gold in 34.644 seconds, De Jonge won silver in 34.674 and it was bronze for Saul Craviotto Rivero in a time of 34.896. McKeever finished in sixth place - and just 1.1 seconds divided the entire field, leading to some confusion at the finish line as paddlers waited to have the results confirmed.

Ostrom, who picked up the European title earlier this season, described the win as his best result to date, despite admitting to not having had the best of starts.

“I know I have a good finish, I did it in the last 100m,” he said.

The K2 200m saw a repeat victory for Russian Olympic champions Yury Postrygay and Alexander Dyachenko. British bronze medallists from London, Jon Schofield and Liam Heath, improved one position to silver while Germany’s Jonas Ems and Ronald Rauhe took bronze. It was the 22nd World Championship medal of Rauhe’s career.

canoe kayak sprint world championships 2013 icf duisburg germany competition results sportscene Men's Canoe

In the Canoe events, Hungary ruled the waves. Henrik Vasbanyai and Robert Mike took gold in 1,000m C2 while Attila Vajda beat Olympic Champion Sebastian Brendel in the C1 final. Brendel, the face of the World Championships on posters and publicity material throughout Duisburg, had to make do with a silver medal. Meanwhile, and an indication of what might be to come in Rio 2016, Brazilian Isquias Queiroz Dos Santoz took a bronze in the same race. 

In C4 1,000m it was the home nation’s day with Germany winning gold ahead of Belarus and Hungary.

Women's Canoe

The women’s canoe events saw a clear champion in the form of Canada’s Laurence Vincent-Lapointe. She won the C1 200m and C2 500m, pairing up with Sara-Jane Caumartin for the doubles event following the retirement of her previous two-time World Champion partner Mallorie Nicholson.

Second in the C2 were Zsanett Lakatos and Kincso Takacs of Hungary while Chile’s Nancy Millan and Maria Mailliard were third in the bronze medal position.

Off the water and online, debate raged over the continued fight for the inclusion of women’s canoe classes in the Olympic programme. One of the women leading the charge for its inclusion, Pam Boteler, noted that 12 countries which had competed internationally in women’s canoe in 2011-2013 were absent from this World Championships. Certainly the field looked somewhat depleted with just 17 boats contesting the C1 200m and scant evidence of depth in the C2.

Lorraine Lafrenière, director-general of Canoe Kayak Canada, however, told Sportscene in an exclusive interview ahead of the World Championships that inclusion in the Olympic programme would make ‘all the difference’ to the numbers competing in women’s canoe events. She said: 

You look at the examples of BMX, Mountain Bike and Beach Volleyball, all added relatively recently to the Olympic programme. Once a sport is added, the number of countries competing increases dramatically. We see that as data to support the inclusion of women’s canoe in the Olympic programme.

As the canoe sprint circus packed its suitcases and zipped its boat bags for another year, the capacity crowds at Duisburg’s Wedau watersports park returned home wondering whether next year’s World Championship hosts Moscow will be able to trump the atmosphere of this year’s event. Judging by the feedback on social media channels alone, the Russians could have their work cut out.

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Photographers: Kanu Duisburg, Balint Vekassy