As expected by many, the Hungarian and German juniors accounted for the most direct qualifications for the final with 4 boats each. Romania was also able to present very good results, placing 2 boats directly in the finals, 14 other nations reached the finals directly with one boat each. The total of 24 boats qualifying directly is due to the fact that in some disciplines only the winner qualifies directly for the finals, in others it’s the first 3 boats. In Men’s K1, some athletes, due to the high overall number of competitors could not qualify directly for the final runs, and will have to compete in semi-finals this afternoon.

A sure highlight for the audience was the first C2 1000m heat which was won by Kazakh brothers Sergey and Timofey Emelyanov. The brothers finished with an estimated advance of about 6 boats in length and almost 10 seconds before the Belarus team who came in 2nd.

Other races were much tighter, as the Men’s K4 2nd heat was won by Spain, followed by the Hungarian and Slovak teams. “It wasn’t an easy race, and in fact we had not expected to win,” as Spanish athlete Marcus Cooper Walz noted just after the finish.

Our strategy was mostly to save energy for the finals so we chose quite a slow stroke on the first 500m and speeded up only in the second half; we were in first position all the way from the start to the finish.

This placed the Spanish team directly in the finals. According to team leader Marciso Suarez, the Spanish athletes, 19 in total, are hoping to take home at least one medal.

Men's C4 athletes Lukasz Wietrak and his Polish teammates also won a very tight battle with Hungary. Just after the race, Lukasz Wietrak gave us his views, “We are very happy with this result. We had planned to see how the other teams are doing at first and then to catch up and see what we can do. It was a very tight race between us and Hungary right from the beginning.”

Belgium could provide a clear victory in the Women’s K1 2nd heat with an advance of more than 6 seconds over German Isabel Friedt. Athlete Hermien Peters told us, “It was not so easy at this early time. But I am in a good shape and had a view to the other lanes. It ́s great to be in the final directly and maybe I ́ll win a medal.“

Altogether, the 1000m heats were quite successful and the more than 500 spectators were presented some exciting races. Time schedules were kept perfectly so the last 1000 m disciplines, Men’s K4 and Men’s C4, were finished just before noon.