Nick Harding | @nickhdg | Sportscene - Summary of Day 1 results: U23 Jess Fox wins C1W Heats, Smolen from the US dominates K1M , Karlovsky and Jane lead C2M for the Czech Republic. 

What a celebration and an eye-opener yesterday has been; a celebration of how far youth paddlesport has come since the 2010 Youth Olympics in Singapore in terms of the number of competing nations, number of athletes participating, how tight the results have been along with the real mix of personalities from different backgrounds we are seeing.

27 countries were at last year's worlds, 45 this year – a near 40% increase, as for C1W 62 competitors outweighed K1W's 59!

The quality of the field has soared in all disciplines and it can only continue to get better from here on out.
“Even when I was going through the start list, there aren't that many people I couldn't name and couldn't say who hadn't done well in senior races.” Mallory Franklin (GBR)

Viktoria Wolffhardt said it all, with more young girls with talent, the field never looked stronger. “There are so many boys competing in C1M, why not the girls as well.” In her Sportscene interview she went onto say how she would love C1W to become Olympic. Vikki is a K1W paddler by trade but has diversified into C1 as it's a new challenge and good for K1W sport as well. Both her and Jess Fox are 'Yoggies' – Youth Olympic Games graduates.

Day 1 over, the course seemed long for many a paddler, yet the unanimous feeling was that it was a good course today, challenging with a couple of tricky stoppers that threw even the best and emerging nations; Kazakhstan's Svetlana Polezhayeva made it through to the semi-finals – her country has no artificial course as a result of the start-up costs and her training is done on local natural rivers, C1W is becoming ever more popular in her country.

Jess Fox had some time loss around gates 12 and 13 but despite this she felt the fast flow, longer distance made for more frequent and challenging moves throughout the duration of the course. Katarina Kopunova: “I never enjoyed paddling in Liptovský but the last two weeks have been my best.”

K1M U23

Heat 1 - pressure was on to qualify out of a field of 83 strong. A a staggering sub-99 run from American Smolen wearing the number 10 bib to take first. Brus (SLO) and Schweikert landed second and third. Riding the home support Slovakia's Halcin ended up in fourth with a great 98.57 run. Only a matter of 0.47 seconds between the top four places – really close.

Brazil's Oliveria finished in 41st with a couple of penalties, do watch out for his name though at Rio 2016 – a sure celebrity in the making.

Smolen and Brus opted not to run their second heats, finishing 9th in Heat 1 Italy's De Gennaro managed to sneak into the mix with a 98.32 run in Heat 2. 40 go through to Friday's semi-final, the best ranked after 2 runs are Smolen (USA), De Gennaro (ITA), Brus (SLO) and Colober (FRA).

C1W U23

Great day for Japan's Aki Yazawa who at one point lead Heat 1, she ended up in a promising fifth with a 132.71 run and 7th in Heat 2. Unstoppable Jess Fox (AUS) ran and won both heats slicing 7 seconds off her own time: 121.02 down to 115.61.

Heat 1 rankings were Fox, Vilarrubla (ESP), Jancova (CZE), Heat 2 a few changes: Fox, Franklin (GBR), Vilarrubla – consistent runs from Mallory Franklin 4th in the first and 2nd in Heat 2, she sets herself up nicely as Jess's closest rival so far. Many Brits have travelled to Slovakia and will be rooting for Mallory on Friday.

Going into Friday's semi-top ranked are Fox (AUS), Franklin (GBR), Vilarrubla (ESP), Wolffhardt (AUT) and Jancova (CZE) in fifth.

C2M U23

Czech men's doubles Karlovsky and Jane (7th Cardiff, 12th and semifinalists at Augsburg won Heat 1 in style but narrowly over 1-second more Brzezinski's from Poland. Chlebek and Weglarz, fellow Poles, had another tight finish in the day's line-up coming in third with only point 5 of second difference. Double Poland, double France in 4th and 5th.

The top 3 boats didn't compete in Heat 2, the was only one major change France's Prigent and Kervella slid cheekily into fourth over compatriots Scianimanico and Cailhol: Czech, double Poland, double France in 4th and 5th!

Juniors

K1M first was held by Slovenia's Srabotnik followed by two Slovakians Malek and Grigar – I bet the local crowd were over the moon! (no change in top 3 positions for Heat 2).

Kimberley Woods (World Cup gold at Cardiff, bronze at Augsburg) was over 10 seconds clear taking the lead in C1W Junior Heat 1, Ana Satila (BRA) finished 7th and then moved into a tasty third in Heat 2. Satkova (CZE) took a comfortable 2nd in both heats.

Home win in C2M for Slovakians Gewissler and Skakala in the heats, fellow countrymen Simicak and Skubik moved into third in Heat 2.

Today it is K1W and C1M's day in both U23 and Junior categories. U23 K1W Heats are up first with Beth Latham and Mallory Franklin (GBR) in action also with some faces you may not know including Venezuela's Fernandez and Lithuania's Baranauskait.

Results: www.sportscene.tv/liveresults