John Gregory - @gregiej | Sportscene - The international elite in canoe slalom will start their second duel today as part of the 2013 ICF canoe Slalom World Cup series. Here is a short preview of what to expect this weekend for World Cup 2 in Augsburg.

We are back in Augsburg less than 5 days after the conclusion of World Cup 1 in Cardiff, Wales. This is back to where Olympic canoe slalom began and the first of the world class artificial canoe slalom courses on the infamous Eiskanal.

The medal table was dominated by three or four nations in Cardiff and the German’s cleaned up with a further 3 gold medals in the team event. They will be looking to excel on their home venue in the first Augsburg World Cup race since 2010. Interestingly Beijing Olympic Champion Alexander Grimm who is a member of the Kanu Schwaben Augsburg club is one of the forerunners.

Our last international outing to Augsburg was for the European Championships in 2012 where the winners were Sideris Tasiadis (GER) in C1M, Mira Louen (GER) in C1W, Daniele Molmenti (ITA) in K1M, Carole Bouzidi (FRA) in K1W and Jaroslav Volf & Ondrej Stepanek (CZE) in C2. You can watch all them racing in the video gallery below plus some interesting short interviews.

It is good to see some additional nations on the start list that did not race in Cardiff with 31 nations participating. These include China, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Netherlands, Belarus, Kazakhstan & Cook Islands. The Cardiff race was very dominated by the European nations, with two of the finals (C1M & C2) having no paddlers from outside Europe.

C1M – Canadian Single Men
Germany’s Olympic silver medalist, Sideris Tasiadis had to settle for 4th in Cardiff despite a win in the heats. The German team had three boats in the Cardiff C1 final and went on to win the team event.  Neither the current French world champion, Denis Gargaud Chanut nor 2012 world cup champion Alexander Slafkovsky (SVK) made the final in Cardiff and will want to make amends. Several of the top paddlers including David Florence (GBR), Matej Benus (SVK) and last week’s winner Stanislav Jezek CZE) are capable of a win.

C1W – Canadian Single Women
There has been great improvement in the standard of C1W in a short period of time. Caroline Loir from France recently won the European Championships for the second time in three years. All three Cardiff medalists, Woods (GBR), Fox (AUS) & Franklin (GBR) are again racing this weekend. German paddler Lena Stoecklin will be looking to improve upon her 8th in Cardiff and 4th at the Augsburg European Championships last year.

K1M – Kayak Single Men
German paddlers Fabian Doerfler, Sebastian Schubert last week completed a 1-2 at the Cardiff World Cup race. Cardiff bronze medalist Fabien Lefevre (USA) as well as the 2013 European Champion Jiri Pszkavec (CZE) will all be racing again. This category is very open with a spectrum of World class paddlers capable of winning the event. David Ford (CAN) and Etienne Daille (FRA) had particularly disappointing runs in Cardiff and will wish to make the Augsburg final.

K1W – Kayak Single Women
Double Olympic Champion Elena Kaliska (Slovakia) and Jana Dukatova (SVK) were on excellent form last weekend as was Corinna Kuhnle (AUT) who secured a bronze in the final. We expect Cindy Poeschel (GER) who came 4th in Cardiff together with Jasmin Schornberg (GER) and Claudia Baer to be a good form on the home water this weekend. They did also win the K1W team race in Cardiff by 11.30 seconds. London Olympic Champion Emilie Fer (FRA) will make her 2013 World Cup debut. For World Cup race 2 we are missing Cardiff World Cup winner Lizzie Neave (GBR), 2013 European Champion Fiona Pennie (GBR) and ICF World Ranked No. 2 Maialen Chourraut (ESP).

C2 – Canadian Doubles (Men)
Pavol & Peter Hochschorner showed they are still a dominant force with a strong final in Cardiff winning with a clear run. The British London Olympic medal crew of Florence/Hounslow will be absent this weekend. The field was very tight with any one of the 10 European crews in the final capable of a win. The German crews all missed the cut for the Cardiff final and will be expected to be stronger on their familiar Augsburg water. The European champions Peschier & Labarelle (FRA) will be starting their World Cup season.

Augsburg Race Format:
• Friday June 27th C1M, C1W, K1M, K1W and C2 heats
• Saturday June 28th C1M, C1W & K1M semi-final & final
• Sunday June 29th K1W & C2 semi-final & final + team events all classes

Results will be available on www.sportscene.tv/liveresults and there will be further information on the ICF World Cup website. Again the weather could play a factor.