The skies were grey, the winds were strong and the day was cold, but crowds came out in their numbers on this third and final day here at the 2011 ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup in Poznan. First into the water were the C1 200m ladies who didn’t seem to mind the wind too much as Sophie Cordelier (FRA) went clear to win first place. Staniliya Stamenova (BUL) came in second and Maja Madziewicz (POL) was third in this developing class.

In the much awaited “thriller in the water”, Men’s K1 200m World Champion Edward McKeever (GBR) showed that he is still the man to beat as he came from the middle of the pack to claim the Gold medal. Polish superstar Piotr Siemionowski came in second and said “I am quite happy with my race today because last year, in the same race, I had the same time but didn’t qualify for the Final. This year in the first World Cup of the season I win Silver. It’s a great start to my season!” The Bronze medal went to Oleg Kharytonov (UKR).

The ICF caught up with Edward McKeever after his race and he said, that he had a bit of a poor start in the beginning but he was happy that he was able to pull it together in the middle of the race for a win. His goal now is to “Keep focused for the next three months until the World Championships in Szeged and then qualify for London 2012.” With Team GB doing so well in this weekend’s competition, the ICF asked Jon Anderson, Elite Performance Director at GB Canoeing what his team is doing to keep the momentum from last year going.

We had a very good winter. We were at a preparation camp in Australia for 8 weeks and came back to the UK in March. We are now settled into our new base at the Lee Valley Whitewater Course (one of the Olympic Venues for London 2012) which is an excellent facility for our training.

The Men’s C1 200m race was pure quality. From the start of the race the fans were treated to top line C1 racing, and they showed their appreciation by enthusiastically cheering on the athletes. Nobody could have guessed who came first, second or third, but thanks to photo finish technology, it was announced that Yiuri Cheban (UKR) had picked up the Gold; Jevgenij Shuklin took Silver and Sebastien Brendel (GER) Bronze. After the podium ceremony, Shuklin said, “This channel has big waves and it does affect my boat, mostly because of my weight, but I like that I took second place.” He went on to say “I am not fully prepared as yet; this World Cup for me is part of my preparations towards Szeged and the London 2012 qualifiers.”

The ladies on the podium for the Women’s K1 200m medal ceremony have made a real success of their weekend here in Poznan. After winning Gold yesterday in the 500m race, Nicole Reinhardt was back in the thick of things as she won Bronze, behind Alana Nicholls, who is also having a very good weekend. The Gold medal went to local favourite Marta Walczykiewicz (POL) who had taken the lead at the beginning of the race. Inna Osypenko-Radomska was always playing catch up in the race, but never quite broke into the first three.

The Men’s K2 200m race lived up to its reputation as the fastest canoe race on the schedule! With immaculately synchronized movements and very high stroke rates, the race was as fast as it was beautiful to see. Great Britain took the early lead, but the French duo of Arnaud Hybois and Sebastien Jouve (FRA)