John Gregory | @gregiej | Sportscene -  Clean negotiation of the last four gates of the Eiskanal became the deciding factor for the exciting Augsburg World Cup final. Here is a short review of the overall World Cup series followed by the Augsburg race analysis.

While double points for the last race doesn’t seem any better of an idea here than in Abu Dhabi for the F1 championship, it didn’t negatively impact the standings. After such incredible consistency through the five race series; Martikán and Škantár’s in particular have been the standout acts and deserved their respective World Cup titles.

Final World Cup Overall Rankings

Congratulations to these 2014 World Cup champions. Sebastian Schubert (GER) was able to defend his 2013 championship title, while it was a first World Cup series win for Kateřina Hošková (CZE). For a full listing of the ranking from the five World Cup race series visit  http://events.slalom.canoeicf.com/standings/standings-2013/standings-2014.

Augsburg WC5 race analysis

Augsburg winners of the respective heats, semi-final and final (penalties shown in brackets)

Augsburg race analysis percentages of K1M winning time

Augsburg individual medal table

Germany, although topping the individual medal table, were not quite as dominant as they had been in 2013 at their home World Cup race, with 9 boats making the final compared to an impressive 13 the year before.

Below a short summary of each class in Augsburg.

C1M – Canadian Single Men

Germany’s own Olympic silver medallist Sideris Tasiadis started the weekend with a clear impressive 99.61 in the 1st qualification heat. He then marginally improved again on his time to win the qualification with 99.11 seconds clear. Unfortunately, he was unable to repeat the same form in the semi-final and missed qualification for the final.

Again we had three Slovakian boats in the final but this time only Matej Benus contributing to the Slovakian team’s medal count.

Eventual race winner Denis Gargaud Chanut (FRA) was 4th in the first qualification, 8 after 2nd qualification, 7th in the semi-final 2.38 seconds behind semi-final winner Alexander Slafkovsky (SVK) and then supremely quick in the final with a stunning 97.75 second

It was good to see Takuya Haneda (JPN) was one of three C1M making the final from outside Europe together with Fabien Lefevre & Casey Eichfeld both from USA. Eichfeld had found himself 29th after the 1st qualification heat and pulled back a wonderful 101.09 clear run to finish the heat 3rd 1.98 seconds behind Tasiadis.

In the final Germany’s remaining C1 Franz Anton picked up a 50 second penalty on the tricky upstream/S gate 21.

C1W – Canadian Single Women

Her fellow athletes applauded Mallory Franklin (GBR) on social media with the margin of her final run. An hour earlier she had won the semi-final with 120.99 + 4 seconds of penalties to be 1.24 seconds ahead of Kateřina Hošková (CZE). Franklin then pulled out a masterly 114.73 clear run to go 6.02 seconds ahead of next placed Lawrence. Franklin was 3rd after the 1st run and like heat winner Ros Lawrence (AUS) did not start her 2nd qualification run.

Home nation Germany’s Karolin Wager made the cut to the final to finish 5th, while team-mates Elena Apel was 12th and Lena Stoecklin 17th.

Series leader before this final race, Jess Fox (AUS) was in Nanjing at the Youth Olympic Games as did not defend her World Cup title.

K1M – Kayak Single Men

Matthieu Biazizzo (FRA) started strong with a lightning quick 94.58 seconds to win the heats and while he slipped to 7th in the semi-final he went quicker again in the final to finish on the podium.

Germany’s fortunes at home were very mixed this year, while Schubert won with 92.35 seconds clear in the final, Fabien Doerfler was 10th. Hannes Aigner found himself in 72nd place after the first heat with a 50 second penalty but used his local knowledge to pull and join Doerfler, Schubert and Grimm in the semi-final.

It was a well-timed personal best for Great Britain’s Joe Clarke who is fast stamping his authority as the new number 1 British K1M. Joe said afterwards; “I’m very happy with my performance at World Cup 5 in Augsburg. Getting on the podium at senior level was one of my 2014 aspirations.”

After his win in Seu, Samuel Hernanz (ESP) maintained consistency making 7th in the final. It was a challenging weekend for Molmenti (ITA) 21st, Hradilek (CZE, coming back from an injury) 22nd and Daille (FRA) 24th

Notably in the heats the top 12 K1M were all clear!

K1W – Kayak Single Women

Olympic & World Champion Emilie Fer (FRA) laid down the fastest run on the 1st qualification heat, however, she picked up 4 seconds of penalties in the semi-final and failed to make the final. Ricarda Funk (GER) then went faster to win the qualification by 1.28 seconds.

Corinna Kühnle (AUT) and Jana Dukatova (SVK) showed their strength and experience going first and second in the semi, but Kühnle was not able to translate a 100 second run time into a win with a 50 second penalty on gate 2.

Campbell Walsh commentating described Ricarda as having “a lovely feel for the water and she certainly seems to have the mentality to deliver when it matters”. She was very quick on the early part of the course finishing with 102.52 + 2 seconds on gate 13.

It was a deserved win by Funk and Štěpánka Hilgertová’s silver medal +1.97 is truly extraordinary. Hilgertová won the World Championships at Augsburg back in 2003. It was a wonderful 1st World Cup podium for fellow Czech Republic 19 year old Karolina Galuskova. 

The German ladies showed their home strength with 3 paddlers qualifying for the final Jasmin Schornberg 3rd, Ricarda Funk 4th & Melanie Pfeifer 5th.

C2 – Canadian Doubles (Men)

“Incredible form” says Campbell of the Škantár’s performance this year. Ladislav & Peter Skantar (SVK) went fastest in the 1st qualification heat and then improved upon their own time in the 2nd qualification run with clear runs. In the semi-final they were again the class act with 109.22 clear, some 2.22 seconds ahead of Klauss/Peche (FRA). Despite an almost identical run time in the final they picked up a penalty and finished uncharacteristically down in 9th demonstrating how much quicker crews had gone in the final.

The C2 final was a great quality final with some fast runs and only 1.85 seconds between the first 7 boats. The winners Klauss/Peche were phenomenally fast on the final run with 106.20 plus a touch on the upstream of gate 13. Gauthier Klauss & Matthieu Peche (FRA) made it two Augsburg World Cup wins in a row.

The British team had four boats racing all making the semi-final indicating how this class is growing in the UK. World Champion’s Florence/ Hounslow opted for the ‘S’ on the torpedo stopper on gate 21 to finish on the podium in 3rd.

Host nation Germany qualified three boats for the semi and two boats for the final with Anton/ Benzien finishing 0.7 seconds behind Klauss/ Peche to take silver. Behling/ Becker were also very quick yet finished just outside the podium.

Augsburg team event

Cumulative Medal Table (from the five individual World Cup series races)

Slovakia showed that they are top of the class, and while Martikán and Škantár/Škantár contributed 8 of the 13 medals they had class support from Alexander Slafkovsky, Jana Dukatova and Matej Benus. Given that Slovakia also did not benefit from a home World Cup race this is all the more impressive.

12 months ago you may recall it was France that was supreme in 2013 with 5 golds and 9 medals overall.

For all (downloadable) results visit: www.sportscene.tv/whitewater/canoe-slalom/result-archive

So what does all this really mean?
We have seen some sensational runs from the older masters and rising stars. The ICF Canoe Slalom Senior World Championships in Deep Creek, USA are now a mere 28 days away. Read Sportscene’s top 10 Worlds predictions in three weeks. Sportscene TV will be there reporting live. It will be an incredible event to witness.

Photography: Birke Oud - www.alakarte.de, Balint Vekassy - www.canoephotography.com