Review women’s C1 and C2 at the World Cup Canoe Sprint in Račice

canoe kayak sprint racice czech republic world cup 2013 icf women canoe c1 c2 sportscene laurence vincent la pointe

Taylor Potts | Sportscene - Continuing their strong showing from 2012, this year’s second World Cup in Račice, Czech Republic, boasted a competitive contingent of women canoers from across the globe.

Canada’s decorated World Champion Laurence Vincent Lapointe won gold in the C1 200m event with a time of 51.022, edging out Maria Kazakova of Russia (51.979). Anggie Avegno of Equador followed closely in third at 52.649. She blasted a personal best and shocked everyone to take Bronze. Anngie was ECU's 2012 Junior Champion.

The seven finalists gave a fast start and a faster finish; Vincent Lapointe seemingly pulled ahead in the last quarter of the race. In such a short sprint however, it is she who manages to maintain her boat speed off the line that finishes first. “It was very hard,” says Vincent Lapointe, noting the strong competition coming from Russia. She “gave all that was left” for a win she believes transpired from recognizing other countries’ advance in women’s canoe.

canoe kayak sprint racice czech republic world cup 2013 icf women canoe c1 c2 sportscene laurence vincent la pointe Last year, Kazakova ranked 3rd and has since closed the gap between herself and Vincent Lapointe by over one second: a hard-earned reward in the 200m sprint.

Sunday brought another gold for Vincent Lapointe as well as a wind favouring right-sided paddlers. She and her new C2 partner Sarah-Jane Caumartin won the 500m final with a time of 2:13, just 2.1 seconds ahead of Russian canoers Irina Andreeva and Ekaterina Petrova. As both Vincent Lapointe and Caumartin paddle on the left side, winning gold at their first international competition together is especially remarkable. This weekend the two will race to defend their title in Poznan for the third and final Sprint World Cup in what promises to be another great showdown.

Canada and Russia were two of seven crews participating in the 500m C2 event. At Duisburg’s Cup in 2012, Vincent Lapointe and Mallorie Nicholson led by over four seconds and competed against just two other crews from Russia.

Stay tuned for the next race report after Poznan!

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