2015 ICF World Championships Slalom
 
1
2
3
K1M
CZ J. PRSKAVEC
PL M. POLACZYK
US M. SMOLEN
K1W
CZ K. KUDEJOVA
DE R. FUNK
DE M. PFEIFER
C1M
GB D. FLORENCE
SI B. SAVSEK
GB R. WESTLEY
C1W
AU J. FOX
CZ K. HOSKOVA
ES N. VILARRUBLA
C2
DE ANTON/BENZIEN
FR PICCO/BISO
FR KLAUSS/PECHE

Canoe Slalom

An evening with the Brazilian Canoe Slalom Team

canoe kayak slalom brazil team prague interview icf foz sportscene

From left to right: Fabio Scchena Rodrigues (20), Jean Moller Pereira (21), Pedro Henrique Da Silva (20), Leonardo Curcell (19), Sportscene’s John Gregory, Anderson Oliviera (21), Ana Sátila Vargas (17), international judge Luiz Ebert, physiotherapist Anderson Kiliara, Ricardo Martins Taques (23), Felipe Borges Da Silva (18), coach Guille Diez Canedo, team manager Ettore Ivaldi, Charles Correa (20) and Joao Vito Machado (28)

John Gregory | @gregiej | Sportscene - In a little under three years we will have crowned new Olympic Champions in canoe slalom. I had the pleasure of following the exploits as well as sharing an evening with the Brazilian canoe slalom team [Prague Worlds]. Here is their story.

My immediate impression is that this is a young, highly passionate and motivated team who don’t give up. With their up and coming junior development they have high expectations for the future. If Ana Sátila’s rise at the London Olympics at the tender age of 16 is anything to go by they are a spirited nation. Ana made the K1W semi-final finishing 16th.

In Prague the team nominated 18 year old Felipe Borges Da Silva, from Foz do Iguaçu as their Brazilian flag bearer at this opening ceremony because it was at his first senior World Championships. Despite two World Championships in Brazil in 1997 at Três Coroas and again in 2007 at Foz do Iguaçu Brazil is still looking towards a first podium finish at a senior level in canoe slalom.

The team have inherited experience through their team manager Italy’s Ettore Ivaldi, who was himself a silver medallist at the 1989 Savage Worlds in K1M Team with Marco Caldera and later 1992 Olympic Champion Pierpaolo Ferrazzi.

The team has built up around Foz do Iguaçu after the course opened in 2006. It is now the centre for 16 athletes. Many have moved away from family to be centred around Foz. This is the site where the team trains outside the racing season in Europe. Despite the team’s familiarity with Foz the team are absolutely spontaneous in wishing to see the Olympic venue in Rio in 2016.
 
The 2013 season has seen many high points and the group return to Brazil very content. The European races have enabled the team to watching and learning from other athletes through shared sessions like Spain’s Ander Elogesi. They were all unanimous in their support of Bratislava as their favourite race site.

The next couple of years prior to the Olympics will be important for the team. Many of their athletes will compete at the Junior / U23 Worlds in Penrith, Australia in April next year. Ana Sátila gained a bronze medal in C1W at this year’s Junior Worlds in Liptovský Mikuláš, Czech Republic and made the final at this year’s Bratislava World Cup final finishing 7th in C1W. The next Junior/U23 Worlds take place at Foz do Iguaçu in 2015 the same year as the Pan American Games which will be held in Toronto. For example they have three more C2 crews but these paddlers are presently still juniors.

There were several South American countries competing in Prague, Venezuela, Chile & Argentina. In response to asking how they are seeing canoe slalom grow in Central & South America, Ettore comments that “it is important for longevity of canoe slalom in the Olympic programme”. The team adds; “it is not enough yet and that it would be great to have more.”

There is good support for canoe slalom in Brazil and there was a good article in the 2013 Canoe Planet printed magazine. Two other articles we published:

How the team advanced at Prague Worlds 2013:

  • C1M - Leonardo Curcell 48th, Felipe Da Silva 63th, Jean Pereira 64th 
  • C1W - Ana Sátila 12th 
  • K1M - Pedro Da Silva 37th, Ricardo Martins Taques 66th, Joao Machado 97th
  • K1W - Ana Sátila 32nd
  • C2 - Charles Correa & Anderson Oliveira 22nd

How the team performed in Bratislava Worlds 2011:

  • C1M - Cassio Petry 46th, Leonardo Curcell 53rd, Charles Correa 54th  
  • C1W – no competitors
  • K1M - Joao Machado 52nd, Pedro Da Silva 56th, Anderson Oliveira 64th 
  • K1W - Ana Sátila 45th 
  • C2 – no competitors

The Brazilian’s have been competing in international canoe slalom for many years. They had athletes are both their home World Championship events in 1997 and 2007. In Prague they had competitors in each class, making into the semi-finals in both C1W and K1M. Expect them to be stronger again at the Deep Creek and Lee Valley Worlds. They have clear aspirations to represent their country at the Rio Olympics and push for qualification to the finals.

Thank you to the team for sharing a light hearted evening. Their final comment to Sportscene readers; “we are not only a soccer country” ;-)