Gonzalo Melero | Sportscene - The 2014 Canoe Marathon season begins with the feeling of being at the start of a new era. After a few years of establishing and consolidating a fixed format for international competitions, standardising distances, laps, and portage rules, 2014 will see a new step forward with the World Champs being held in the USA after 14 years without visiting the American continent. On top of this, the world will be waiting to see the new format introduced at the World Cup.

After looking for new ways of attracting spectators, the ICF has designed a new “express” marathon for the first day of the World Cup, to be held in Bohinj (Slovenia) on the 7th – 8th of June. Providing that K2s have been removed from the schedule, Saturday will be for short races of 3,6 km; three laps to the short course of the final lap of standard marathon, including two portages. The express marathon will only be available in individual classes.  Assuming there will be more than ten entries, a two-heat format will make paddlers fight for one of three direct spots into the final, plus the best four times. Three hours after the heats the finals will take place on the same course.

It looks like there will be intense, hectic action and the crowd will certainly enjoy it. The main thing is: who can we expect to participate? This is the big question which probably will not be answered at this World Cup. We will come back to this topic shortly.

Now, let’s take a look at the standard marathon racing, which left a very good taste in our mouths at Copenhagen during the last World Championships. There is no Olympic cycle in marathon, but the paddlers have a chance to join the sprint national teams focused on 2015 qualifiers for Rio so 2014 will probably be a pure marathon year. That means that we may see again the specialist stars doing their best in singles. People like Hank McGregor (RSA) or Iván Alonso (ESP) will try to increase their medal collection by looking for a new gold in K1. Alonso will certainly try again to win the double gold with Emilio Merchán, 6 times world champion in the K2. At 38, Merchán is already preparing for the season with Oklahoma in mind. Things would have to change a lot for the pair to miss qualification, as their main rivals and teammates, Walter Bouzán and Álvaro Fiuza have quit K2. Fiuza will try K1 for the first time after 3 golds and 2 consecutive silvers in the doubles.

But what about the other athletes? If anyone could be seen as a sure bet, would it be multiple medalist and European Champion José Ramalho (POR)? He should qualify for Portugal and deserves to stand at the top of the podium after years of quality, awesome portages and tireless effort. Ramalho is always one of the crowd’s favorites during the races. He will be keen to leave behind his bad luck in Copenhagen, where he capsized mid-race. We will also see if 2013 medalist Cyrille Carré (FRA) will compete in marathon after (probably) representing France in the K1 1000 in Moscow [Worlds Sprint]. This versatile paddler has always been involved in all the disciplines, but if his Sprint results are good, he may focus on the Olympic discipline alone and avoid marathon racing for a couple of seasons.

In both K1 and K2 there are a few very young teams who are waiting to explode with their best, if the big stars fail at some point. With some way to improve at their age, but already at the top level, are Hungary, Norway and South Africa, to name a few. Not to be forgotten is the very good 2013 season of Edward Rutherford (GBR). Rutherford won bronze in Duisburg in the 5000m and came 5th in Copenhagen in K1 at just 23 years old. The three countries named previously have more than a good chance. From Hungary, the Noe brothers, Adrian Boros and Lazslo Solti are all under 24 years of age and the main character in the K1 is played by Mate Petrovics at just 27. All of them know the taste of medals, not to mention the amazing group of Hungarian juniors pushing behind them, who collected almost every single medal during 2013 in the junior categories (and we’re talking about singles and doubles, men’s and women’s, kayaks and canoes... a great Hungarian junior team). 

Norway and South Africa have their talent concentrated in the men’s kayak, as Agnes Brun-Lie, their best female athlete, may be focusing on Sprint this year. Mathias Hamar, Morten Minde, Eivind Vold, Joar Thele, Lars Hjemdal, Karl Anders Sletsjoee, amongst others, were all born in the 90’s and have already shown their quality with some U23 titles. They will be watching the senior medals very closely. The same goes for South Africa, a true factory of young talent, with many U23 talents and surfskiers who will not need much preparation to appear in the top marathon positions. Following consecrated paddlers like McGregor, Shaun Rubenstein or Anthony Stott there’s a new generation coming up, with Andy Birkett, the van der Walt brothers, Cam Schoeman or Sean Rice who already know the taste of gold and are ready to replace their teammates when necessary.

The scene in the women’s events may still be ruled by the everlasting Renata Csay, who will probably be looking for an amazing record of 15 world golds at Oklahoma, by competing in both the K1 and K2. This will be no easy task at 37, especially when paddlers still in their twenties are ready to jump onto the podium. Vying for first position will be other Hungarians, like the strong Alexandra Bara or the very young Vanda Kizsli, as well as some other present stars. These include Anna Adamova Kova and Lenka Hrochova (CZE) and the very strong and rising Italian team, with young paddlers like Anna Alberti and sisters Stefania Susanna Cicali, all medal winners in the last two years as well as promising stars. When it comes to the K2, never forget the Danish team, always a factory of K2 medals regardless of the boat crew. With current world champion Henriette Engel Hansen probably just racing Sprint again, her partner Jeannette Loevborg won’t have a problem in finding a suitable teammate and forming a crew with aspirations to the title. Finally, the main question is whether Tenneale Hatton (New Zealand) will compete. After becoming world champion in three different disciplines in 2013 (U23 Surfski, U23 Marathon and Senior 5000,) will she try again in all of them or will she focus on the Olympic discipline? With a good chance of becoming an Olympian in the K2 500, her winter preparation has been for Sprint, so only Moscow results can tell us if we are again going to enjoy her strong paddling at the Oklahoma Marathon Worlds.

In Canoe, all bets point to a new duel between Spain and Hungary. For many years now these two countries have ruled the C1 and C2 Marathon races. Names like Ramón Ferro, Óscar Graña, Attila Györe, Marton Kavar, Antonio Campos, David Mosquera, Tamas Kiss, José Manuel Sánchez, Diego Romero have always been synonymous for medals. Setting aside the usual fight between Eastern European countries like Poland and the Czech Republic or sometimes Germany, let’s see if this year Portugal can step up to the podium in the form of Samuel Amorim and Rui Lacerda, U23 European and World Champions and medalists. After coming fourth in the senior C2 at Copenhagen, and at their young age, they look ready for the next step.

This is only what we can guess today. Now what about the new format of the very short marathon at the World Cup? Who will be keen to try it? It is simply unknown. With the World Cup and European Championships within just one week in June, the big stars might not like to risk injury in what is so far only a “second division” of marathon. Ten paddlers entering the portage in a frenzied sprint, probably all at once, is not a good way to have fun if you are focused on the standard marathon taking place the next day. So this first attempt will probably be a field-day for newcomers, young people willing to try something different in their first international experience. Will it be a success and be implemented in all competitions? If that means cutting K2s, I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’s an option. Maybe adding it to Friday’s program could be appropriate, but then we must prepare for a new, specialised kind of paddler. It will be the birth of a new group of stars, as I don’t think those perfectly suited for this distance and format will join it at first, as they are already members of their national sprint teams (my thoughts go straight to Spain and Portugal, as Emilio Llamedo and Fernando Pimenta are great 5000m paddlers, they both know what it is to win marathon races). In June, we may have an idea. Until then, it’s time for training.

Links

• 2014 Marathon competition calendar
• Website Marathon Worlds: http://2014okc.org/
• Facebook Page Worlds: www.facebook.com/CanoeMarathonOKC