A continent awaits

John Gregory | @gregiej | Sportscene - The 2013 all European ICF season spreads its wings in 2014 with the senior Worlds in Deep Creek, Maryland, USA and U23 & Junior World’s on the Penrith course in New South Wales, Australia during April.

If you are an accomplished slalom paddler then good luck this season and alternatively if you are completely new to canoeing then I hope this encourages you to pick up a paddle for the first time. Happy reading.

We finished 2013 with new medalists in each class at the Prague Worlds, David Florence with gold in C1 and C2 with Richard Hounslow, together with Vavřinec Hradilek (CZE) in K1M, Olympic champion Émilie Fer (FRA) in K1W and Jessica Fox (AUS) in C1W. We congratulate David Florence (GBR), Jessica Fox (AUS), Émilie Fer (FRA), Etienne Daille (FRA) and Pierre Labarelle & Nicolas Peschier (FRA) for their ICF number 1 World ranking.

Click here to see a summary table of the 2013 season winners.

The World’s mark a return to the US for the first time in twenty years since Jon Lugbill’s recognised Ultimate Run on the Savage River at the ’89 Worlds. The US were not successful in gaining a medal during the 2013 season at World Cup or World Championships and will be seeking medals on their home water in September. For the historians Lugbill remains one of the most successful competitors at World Championship level. It should be noted that Worlds at this time were every two years. Pavol & Peter Hochschorner have won 6 individual World championships. The last US World Champion was Rebecca Giddens in K1W at the 2002 World’s in Bourg St Maurice.

C1M
David Florence (GBR) now 31 finished the 2013 as World Champion and again World Number 1. There had been an audible gasp back in Prague in September when Michal Martikán (SVK) failed to make the C1M final at Worlds but still secured his 10th Worlds gold medal with a win in C1M Team. Notably, there were no boats from outside Europe in the C1M World Championship final in Prague.

Sideris Tasiadis the rising C1M star from Germany secured a win of the 2013 World Cup series.

Sportscene asked Junior World Champion, Cedric Joly (FRA) about his expectations for 2014; “The U23 category is a huge step after the U18, but I really go to Australia with all the motivation and the determination to come back with the world title. I know I'll have to do my best paddling, and to beat some of the best paddlers in the world, but considering the objective of Rio 2016, it's time to show I'm here to other competitors. However, following the French Federation goals, I consider as my first goal a selection in senior team (trials are gonna be two weeks after the U23 worlds) to compete in Deep Creek and get experience of these competitions.”

C1W
19 year old Jessica Fox from Australia maintained her excellent consistency becoming the 2013 World Cup series champion, senior World Champion and U23 World Champion.

Commenting about April’s U23 Worlds in Penrith Jess commented “I'm very excited…. because it is my home course! My preparation for this race will be different to other years because I will be staying at home in the lead up. Usually we would arrive to a Championship a couple of weeks before, after a block of training or racing somewhere else overseas so it will be nice to not travel for once! It won't be different in the sense that a race is a race no matter where you are in the World - at home or abroad, anyone can be good anywhere so it's about doing the best I can and performing to my potential.”

It must be noted that Fox was one of only 5 C1W athletes to compete in all 5 World Cup races in 2013. The other race winner was Britain’s 18 year old Junior European champion, Kimberley Woods.

K1M
The German men dominated the 2013 World Cup series finishing 1st, 2nd & 3rd overall. Remarking on this for Sportscene Sebastian Schubert (GER), World Cup champion said; “It was a great season for us, everybody wants to be the best, so we had a competition in the competition and during our work out. We are all training with the same coach, which lead to a high level during every training session.”

The Czech’s took advantage of home water with an exceptionally strong win by 26 year old Czech Vavřinec Hradilek. “Pretty stoked to be on the games podium, but still is way more important to win World Champs due to Olympic regulations of the start field, in the way of sports achievement. And my goals, to have fun at most of the events with all my friends around the sport. Of course I would like to win overall World Cup and World Champs, but that is tight battle through whole season, so you gotta be injury free!” said Vavra.

K1W
The French ladies were strong in 2013 with Olympic Champion Émilie Fer, 30, scooping up the World Championship title. The Prague final included three French ladies and it represented both 22 year old Nouria Newman and 26 year old Marie Zelia Lafont’s best ever individual results.

Prague turned out a tough season end for Štěpánka Hilgertová (CZE), Jessica Fox (AUS), Urša Kragelj (SLO), Lizzie Neave (GBR) and Corinna Kühnle (AUT) who might have been expected to be in the final.

Jana Dukatova (SVK) held off Jessica Fox (AUS) and Jasmin Schornberg (GER) in the 5 race World Cup series.

Jessica Fox, 19, appears on strong form at last month’s Australian Open in Penrith with a win in K1W. She is also considering her future, whether to focus exclusively on the Olympic discipline of K1W in the run up to Rio. Jess commented to Sportscene; “You can never expect anything in slalom! I had a great year in 2013, especially in C1 and I'm looking forward to improving on my results in K1 - especially at home at the U23 Worlds in Penrith and also Deep Creek World Champs. It's going to be a busy year - World Cups, U23 Worlds & Nanjing YOG [Youth Olympic Games] to fit in as well before the World Championships!”.

C2
The 2013 season proved an exclusive one for the European boats, with no nation outside Europe making any final at World Cup or World Championships.

Pavol & Peter Hochschorner uncharacteristically seemed to miss one key stroke which caused them to miss the World’s final. The final then comprised 7 nations of which three boats were Czech and two French. David Florence started the C2 finals already as C1M World Champion and with his back-man Richard Hounslow put in a solid, controlled and crucially clear run to become Great Britain’s first ever C2 World Champions. 

With the recent announcement of 34 year old Tim Baillie’s retirement from competitive canoe slalom, Etienne Stott who is now back on the water after his shoulder dislocation during last year’s Seu World Cup race will be looking for a new C2 partner in the run up to Rio. Also retiring in 2013 was Czech C2 crew Jaroslav Volf & Ondrej Štěpánek.

French domination
An analysis of nations who have medalled at the Olympics and the ICF latest World Ranking show an intriguing factor. France has the most Olympic medals (16) and also has more athletes in the top 100 World ranked paddlers in every one of the 5 classes. This is a clear investment strategy on the part of the French. Many of these paddlers U23 positions them better in depth of talent than any other nation in the Olympic cycles for Rio and Tokyo.

Sportscene asked France’s Cedric Joly, 19, his perception on this. He commented; “France has always been one of the great nations of canoe. But one of the differences is that France has a very high density. The first division "N1" is very competitive. I think that the legend Tony Estanguet is one of the reasons. As many other French paddlers, I started paddling after I saw him in Athens 2004. I grew up following his international performances. During the period 2009-2012, Estanguet was unbeatable, except in 2011, when Denis Gargaud won the world title.

This shows how much French canoeists are ready to go after him. Moreover, the FFCK (French Federation) politics is very professional and the system works very well. There are training places for young hopes, U18 paddlers, U23 paddlers, elite paddlers... with a nice choice of whitewater courses and a great group of coaches. I guess this explains why 15 French C1M are in the top 100. With such a level, the senior team is the season's first goal for about 15 paddlers, and all of them are able to get in. But I think that since Estanguet retired, it's time for the young generation to come, with very fast guys that can beat the national elite. So it's gonna be hard, but if it wasn't, there would be no prestige to be in the national elite team!”

U23 rising stars
New U23 paddlers have come to the fore; 19 year old Jessica Fox (AUS) senior C1W World Champion or 20 year old Jiri Prskavec (CZE) who took silver in K1M, 19 year old Mallory Franklin (GBR) silver in C1W, 22 year old Nouria Newman (FRA) silver in K1W or Jonas Kasper & Marek Sindler (CZE) who came 4th in C2.

For a full listing follow this link to the 2014 competition events calendar. The World Cup races this year are Lee Valley, Tacen, Prague, Seu & Augsburg respectively between June and August.

First, we look forward to the respective national team selection races prior to the start of the international season. I look forward to reporting live from the Senior World’s at Deep Creek on September 17-21 < www.deepcreek2014.com >. I am again back living in Canada.