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

Czechs show their spirit to fight on and off the water

canoe kayak slalom troja prague czech republic flood river water mud sportscene jiri prskavec world championships 2013 icf

Zuzana Trojáková | Prague - The first day of the European championships in canoe slalom brought great success for the Czech team. Only 21-year-old Jiri Prskavec surprised all the opponents when he had a great run and became the best European kayaker. He added gold in the teams competition a few hours later together with Vavrinec Hradilek and Vit Prindis. Only a day after his success, he grabbed a shovel and helped to clean the mud from the flooded area in Prague -Troja with other volunteers.

„Right after the teams medal ceremony I underwent doping control and then we jumped into the car with Vavrinec and Vit towards Prague,” the double European champion from described his arrival home. The medal celebration was a different one. “We arrived back home from Poland at circa 3 am and we were very tired – from the long travelling and also from the celebrations in the car. My mother had to pick me up,” he revealed the details. 

canoe kayak slalom troja prague czech republic flood river water mud sportscene jiri prskavec world championships 2013 icfThe kayaker shocked the canoe world two years ago when, still a junior, he took the bronze medal at the senior European championships in Seu, Spain and last year he won the U23 world title in the USA. The champion did not hesitate help his friends and on the Sunday morning (9 June,) only one day after his triumph, he went to Prague – Troja to clean up after the flood.

„I woke up around 9am and together with my mother we went on bikes to Troja to help with the cleaning after the flooding. I left Prague last Saturday, when the situation was not that serious yet. Then I had to watch the disaster via TV in Poland and it was very, very sad. Therefore, I wanted to help all I can,” said the member of the USK Praha sports club, who needs to leave for a training camp in Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia, on Monday (10 June). After the Czech Cup in Slovakia next weekend, he will move to the ICF World Cup in Cardiff.

“The welcome in Prague – Troja was awesome! I received many congratulations. I really admire the people working in the Prague slalom area. It is a great thing that they were able to join their power and efforts to clean and secure the area of the planned World Championships.” The area was visited also by the Minister of Industry and other government representatives.

“I was cleaning the mud; we were putting it on the castors. The area is still very wet and humid, so the work was very hard. But it is visible, how all the people work hard just to make the world championships real. They fight for the one thing,” said the member of Czech canoe slalom team for the upcoming ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in September.

Proofreader: Rosalyn Lawrence