Preview of the ‘minor World Championships’ World Cup in Szeged

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Last week's World cup in Racice. You can read a reflection by Tom Hall here.

The competition on the Maty-ér regatta course where 54 nations have registered to race is going to be the last event of the World Cup Series of 2014: Szeged will be the capital city of international canoeing this weekend.

The Hungarian team will of course be complete, with two boats racing in each and every event. The team returned from the Milan World Cup with 9 medals and the up-and-coming generation raced in Racice last weekend.

Germany

Max Hoff easily won in the men’s K-1 1000m in Racice repeating his success in Milan. The defending World Champion even had a small buffer as he finished 2.5 seconds before Rene Poulsen from Denmark. The best of the event from Hungary, Bence Dombvári did not travel to Racice but he will certainly compete for a medal-ranking finish in Szeged.

The rival of Attila Vajda, Sebastian Brendel from Germany, performed just as well as Max Hoff in C-1 1000m. Vajda beat the defending Olympic Champion on his home turf last year in Duisburg, so Brendel likely wants to retaliate. Oldershaw from Canada may also influence the outcome of this duel as he finished third in Milan and second in Racice.

Read more here: 'Germany in Bombastic Shape'

New Zealand

One day after they returned to New Zealand from Racice Lisa Carrington and Teneale Hatton already reflected on their impressive results in a breakfast show. They will not race in Szeged but you can watch them in the video below.

Paracanoeing

Szeged also offers Paracanoe athletes the chance to compete at international level for the second time this season, multiple World Champion Christine Gauthier (CAN) heads the line up and will be looking to shine as the sport continues to grow in anticipation of its debut at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

Read more in the ICF's preview here (not suitable for mobile).

It's not about the finish, it's about the start

The promotional campaign of the event launched with a “It's not about the finish, it's about the start” slogan, in which childhood photos of the two-time Olympic Champion Danuta Kozák and the World Champion Róbert Mike are in focus as they are the face of this year’s Szeged World Cup. Mike Robert:

It’s a great responsibility but also a wonderful honour that my face is used for the promotion of the competition. I also think the campaign is sending an excellent message to all the younger guys, that we were also young once and that the earlier wimpy kid can also end up as exuberant competitors.

"It very well may be that I was chosen because of my hair, as it was very cool in my childhood photo”, jokes Róbert Mike, last year’s World Champion of C-2 1000m, winning the title with his crewmate Henrik Vasbányai in Duisburg.

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C1/2 Women

In the Women's C1 200 - Bulgaria's Staniliya Stamenova is back after missing Gold by a hair in World Cup 1 in Milan. The 2013 Senior World Championships silver medalist is looking strong and hungry for a win in 2014. Speaking of hungry, Hungary's home town favorite and 2013 U23 and Senior World's medalist Zsanett Lakatos is ready challenge Stamenova for world dominance. We can't discount Canadian Taylor Potts, however, who turned in a :48 to win the Canadian Trials to earn her place in these World Cups.

In the Women's C2 500, there are only 3 boats, but we should see fast times and high quality racing by all. We expect Hungary's Zsanett Lakatos and partner Kincső Takács - the 2013 U23 World Champions - to dominate the field.

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