The World Cup in L’Argentiere last weekend saw the return of many stars to the World Cup Circuit and many campaigns were revived. The next ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup will be held this weekend in Markkleeberg, Germany, from 8 – 10 July. The venue is the Kanupark Markkleeberg, one of state-of-the- art white water canoeing courses of the world. The course was build in 2006 and has hosted different national and in- ternational competitions during the last two years.

The highly anticipated Markkleeberg World Cup is important because almost all the athletes from the previous events will be there and it also marks the World Cup debut of one of Canoe Slalom’s finest, Tony Estanguet (FRA). Having already started of his season at La Seu de Urgell (Spain) where he won the Gold medal in the Men’s K1 is looking forward to this weekend. Of his first race in Markkleeberg Tony said:

I will be motivated in the German World Cup because I've never been in Markkleeberg and it is always interesting to discover a new slalom course. Afterwards, I look forward to paddling on the London Olympic course for the test event and finally I will focus all my energy in the September Cunovo's objective to obtain the Olympic quotas.

With the Slalom season and its athletes now in full swing, the winners from both Tacen and l’Argentiere are expected to dominate in Markkleeberg this weekend. Season extraordinaire Peter Kauzer (SLO) has won Gold in both World Cups this season and will be looking for a 3/3, sending a strong message to both his teammates and his Men’s K1 competitors! In Women’s K1, Jana Dukatova has gone full circle already without the season even close to its end. Having won Silver at the Europeans she took a dive in form in Tacen but blew out the competition in L’Argentiere with an impeccably clean run in the final race. Markkleeberg could well be the start of something big for Jana in her quest for that London 2012 spot.

Thomas Konietzko president of the German Canoe Federation said in his message that: "Success always has a history" and this statement cannot be more applicable than when referencing the the domination of the Australian Women in the C1 event. Since the creation of this event it has always been about which Australian will take the top podium place and this weekend promises to be no different. In L’Argentiere it was the young Australian Jessica Fox, making her season debut, who took the Gold medal, followed by the previous weekend’s winner Rosalyn Lawrence, and Tacen Silver medallist Leanne Guinea.

With David Florence (GBR) and Team Great Britain training in Bratislava, the C1 event remains open for contention in Markkleeberg with last week’s contenders ready to hold on to, or better their positions. Who to watch out for: Stanislav Jezek (CZE) Bronze medallist in Tacen, Nicholas Peschier (FRA) who he pushed into fourth place, .Ander Elosegi (ESP) Silver medallist and the Tacen Gold medallist Matej Benus (SVK).

Failing to knock the competition out in their semi final run in L’Argentiere, the Hochschorner brothers (Pavel and Peter) from Slovakia just managed a 10th place finish, but it didn’t get much better as they were knocked out of a medal place in the battle for C2 Gold - along with the Skantars (SVK); nevertheless the two duos have made their history with this event, and they can be expected to bounce back to compete with the eventual podium winners of the event, Bronze medallists Hugo Biso and Pierre Picco (FRA), Silver medallists Saso Taljat and Luka Bozic (SLO)and Gold medallists Gauthier Klauss and Matthieu Peche (FRA).

Coverage of the finals will be LIVE on Eurosport with livestreaming on www.canoeicf.com.