Tacen review and Prague WC3 preview

John Gregory | @gregiej | Sportscene - While much of the World was focussed on 32 counties competing in Brazil the canoe slalom community with a similar number of nations were battling the best Tacen could throw up. For a while none of these nations cared that they were not playing football in Brazil. The Slovenian team running up and down the bank of the Tacen channel made a great deal of noise this last weekend.

Here is a round up from World Cup 2 in Tacen and what to expect in Prague this forthcoming weekend at World Cup race 3.

C1M

The Slovenian’s proved the team to beat at home securing fantastic 1st, 3rd and 5th. Each one of them took a win in the heat, semi or final; Bercic, Bozic and Savsek respectively.

Double Olympic Champion Michal Martikán (SVK) is back on form and looking stronger, he traded a bronze in Lee Valley for silver in Tacen. He still looked disappointed and had it not been for a low breakout in gate 21 could have taken gold.

For me, Stefano Cipressi (ITA) proves you can switch and still go fast. He finished a tough 4th a mere 1.67 seconds behind Savsek.

C1W

Jessica Fox repeated her exceptional form on this tough taken course from a year earlier and finished another clear run by a monstrous 15 second margin.

Qianqain Teng (CHN) has taken two bronze medals this World Cup season.

K1M

The German team were again on great form continuing their trend from 2013.

Several big names missed the cut; these included Daniele Molmenti, Alexander Grimm, Hannes Aigner the fastest man in the heats Vit Prindis. Tacen can be like that. David Florence commented; “Things can go wrong quite quickly in Tacen”.

Peter Kauzer was missed after his emphatic win a year ago at home. He is currently out injured awaiting surgery for his shoulder.

K1W

Jana Dukatova (SVK) commented a day previously that “you need to be very precise on this course”. She heeded her own advice using the water very effectively with a very smooth style. She was understandably delighted at the end. 

It was a first World Cup final for Luka Jones (NZL) following her team-mate Mike Dawson who had also made the K1M final.

This time Lu Li was unable to repeat her form in Lee Valley and failed to make the cut to the final and settling for 14th overall.

C2

This was also tremendously exciting to watch with an incredible four German C2 crews making the C2 final. It was equally surprising to see no Polish crews in the final.

However, under pressure the Ladislav & Peter Skantar (SVK produced a run described as “incredible” and ‘exceptional” by the commentators with good accuracy around the poles. Luka Bozic and Saso Taljat won the heat on their home water. Luka Bozic himself then took his first World Cup medal with a bronze in C1 on Saturday before as last boat down in the C2 final they came in just over a second behind the Skantars to take silver. Peter Kauzer again tweeted to congratulate them.

David Schroeder & Nico Bettge (GER) deserve mention for being the fastest in the 1st C2 heat and then going even quicker on their second run and maintained the lead.

Tacen World Cup 2 race analysis

Summary Tacen winners of heats, semi-final and final (penalties are shown in brackets)

The Tacen medal table in individual classes looked like this

In teams, Australia took a surprise and delighted win in the C1M with Germany showing their depth of talent with wins in both K1M and K1W. In both C1W and C2 there were only one team; China and Germany respectively taking the gold by virtue of being the only team to race.

World Cup 2014 Rankings (after 2 races)

For a full listing of the ranking from the first two World Cup races http://events.slalom.canoeicf.com/standings/standings-2013/standings-2014

Praha WC3 preview
So turning our attention to the forthcoming World Cup in Prague here is a brief guide about who to look out for in the respective five classes. We are again on the Vltava river in the historic city of Prague.

Expect the Czech team to be on form on their home water and expect them to be equally loud in supporting on the bank. Some athletes will be in Prague to show their continued form in Troja after last year’s Worlds while others will be trying to prove that they can come back from disappointment last September.

C1M
A single point separate Benjamin Savsek (SLO) and Michal Martikan (SVK) in the World Cup standings coming into this race.

World Champion David Florence (GBR) is ten points behind Savsek both of whom won on their home courses in the first two World Cup races.

At last year’s Prague Worlds Savsek won the heat, Olympic silver medallist Sideris Tasiadis (GER) the semi and David Florence the final. Martikan missed his first World’s final last year.

Expect the Czech’s to feature especially with Denis Gargaud Chanut (FRA) absent.

C1W
Jessica Fox (AUS) returns to Troja where she last year won the Senior World Championship. She leads the 2014 World Cup standing by 5 points over Qianqian Teng from China and 6 points over Mallory Franklin (GBR)

With Caroline Loir and Mallory Franklin not racing in Prague several other athletes including the local Czech paddlers chiefly Katerina Hoskova & Monika Jancova will wish to be on the podium and show their form.

The British ladies have shown consistent performance in C1W and this weekend Lee Valley silver medallist Eilidh Gibson, Cardiff 2013 winner Kimberly Woods and Jasmine Royle are racing. All are U23 paddlers.

K1M
The Czech’s will be pleased to be going back into the race in Prague as favourites. Vit Prindis is currently leading the World Cup in K1M and team-mate Jiri Prskavec was second at last year’s World’s on the same course. Again we are sadly without men’s World Champion Vavrinec Hradilek who is also out injured.

The World Cup standings are tight and open so a good result in the final could translate to a very different looking race. However, reminiscent of 2013 Germany has four boats in the top 10 with Hannes 3rd, Schubert 4th, Grimm 6th and Doerfler 8th.

Michael Dawson (NZL) is in 7th and having a strong start to the season. He will want to improve upon his 30th from last year’s Worlds.

K1W
Jana Dukatova (SVK) is paddling very well and leads the world cup standing but just one point over Corinna Kuhnle (AUT). Kuhnle will wish to avenge her early exit in Prague last year and we know that if she gets it right she is almost unbeatable.

Ricarda Funk (GER) was fastest in the Tacen heats following up on her U23 European title this year in Vienna. David Florence described her as a “really really impressive young athlete coming through really strong”.

We are without several top ladies in Prague notably Emilie Fer (FRA), Maialen Chourraut (ESP) and Lizzie Neave (GBR) who is recovering from a broken rib.

C2
Slovenia Luka Bozic and Saso Taljat had the perfect start to the World Cup series in London together with a silver in Tacen and so lead the 2014 World Cup series by 5 points over Ladislav & Peter Skantar.

Mateusz Polaczyk comments that the Skantar’s “have made an impressive start to the season,” with David Florence agreeing that they are “back to their absolute best” and “unbelievable season so far”.

David Florence & Richard Hounslow reigning World Champion didn’t race in Tacen and are now back for the rest of the World Cup races. They proved last September that they can cope well with the tight Troja courses.

Prague World Cup Race 3 format:

• Friday June 20th – Heats C1W, K1M, C1M, K1W and C2
• Saturday June 21st – Semi-finals & finals K1M, C1M & C1W plus teams
• Sunday June 22nd – Semi-finals & finals K1W & C2 plus teams

More information is available at http://prague.worldcup.events.slalom.canoeicf.com/en/home  Again look and use #canoeslalomworldcup on Twitter. Live results and tweets @gregiej will be posted to www.sportscene.tv/liveresults.