Keen anticipation of going down to the wire

John Gregory | @gregiej | Sportscene – We are at the last of the World Cup races already. How did that happen? The overall World Cup series in C1M, K1M and K1W is still wide open and will go down to the wire. We have all the top 10 athletes from this year’s World Cup race series so far in C1M and K1M. Don’t go away.

We are again in Bratislava the capital of Slovakia on the banks of the Danube river. Slovakia has been the most successful nation in the last twenty years of canoe slalom history. I am delighted that we have 34 year old Michal Martikan making his only World Cup outing for his home course.

Overall World Cup Rankings

Click here to the full official ICF ranking. In C1W Mallory Franklin and Kimberley Woods are not racing in Bratislava.

The defending World Cup champions from 2012 were Alexander Slafkovsky in C1M, Ros Lawrence (AUS) in C1W, Etienne Daille (FRA) in K1M, Ursa Kragelj (SLO) in K1W and Pierre Labarelle & Nicolas Peschier (FRA) in C2. At last year’s World Cup final in Bratislava the winners were Alexander Slafkovsky (SVK) in C1M, Katarina Macova (SVK) in C1W, Jure Meglic (SLO) in K1M, Jana Dukatova (SVK) in K1W and Franz Anton & Jan Benzien (GER) in C2.

In this year’s ICF Canoe Slalom World Cup series Jessica Fox (AUS) and Gauthier Klauss & Matthieu Peche (FRA) have cemented their leadership in C1W and C2 respectively with three wins each. 

C1M – Canadian Single Men
Each of the medal winners from our previous four World Cup outings this year will be racing on the Bratislava course.

Benjamin Savsek (SVK) had the fastest C1 run of the weekend in both Seu and Tacen. On both occasions Anze Bercic (SLO) has swooped in to take the win in the final

It is great to see the London Olympic silver, Sideris Tasiadis (GER) and bronze medalist Michal Martikan (SVK) are up against each other again for the first international race this year. The two times Olympic Champion and four times World Champion Michael Martikan is on his home water. He has a unique connection with the World Cup series having become the youngest ever winner of a World Cup race at the age of 16.

Both Beijing silver medalist David Florence (GBR) and 2011 world champion Denis Gargaud Chanut (FRA) are both looking for their first podium finish in C1 at this World Cup series.

C1W – Canadian Single Women
The overall World Cup for C1W is almost Jess Fox’s to take home after 3 wins and 4 podiums in the first four races. Outstanding consistency.

The World Cup series is a key determinant of the ICF Cane Slalom ranking so the overall series position is still important. Tacen proved to be Ros Lawrence’s best results of the series so far who after being overall 2012 World Cup champion still seeks a podium finish.

K1M – Kayak Single Men
Germany has continued to dominate the World Cup ranking with Fabian Doerfler 1st, Sebastian Schubert 2nd and Hannes Aigner 3rd. 29 year old Slovenian Peter Kauzer World Champion from both 2009 and 2011 proved his World Champion winning calibre with a masterful 99.87 second run in the Tacen final.

2012 World Cup champion Etienne Daille (FRA) secured a 4th place finish in Augsburg last month and still seeks his first podium finish of 2013.

Sadly, Olympic Champion Daniele Molmenti (ITA) is not racing in Bratislava as he prepares for Worlds.

K1W – Kayak Single Women
There is still so much to play for in K1W in this World Cup final. Medals from the first three races have been divided amongst 9 athletes. The top 4 paddlers are separated by only 18 points with Jessica Fox leading by 11 points over Eva Tercelj (SLO).

We have nine of the top ten ladies in Bratislava for this final as Lizzie Neave with one win and one second is not racing. We do though have reigning Olympic Champion Emilie Fer (FRA) racing again in this World Cup series. She will not be racing for an overall World Cup medal but could mix up the points available.

C2 – Canadian Doubles (Men)
Gauthier Klauss and Matthieu Peche (FRA) made it three consecutive wins in Tacen and so lead the World Cup series. Saso Taljat & Luka Bozic (SLO) have also been on the podium at three races.

We should be guaranteed a dramatic climax with Pavol & Peter Hochschorner (SVK) and Nicholas Peschier & Pierre Labarelle (FRA) back racing this weekend
In each of this year’s World Cup finals they have been made up exclusively of European crews.

Bratislava Race Format:

• Friday August 23rd C1M, C1W, K1M, K1W and C2 heats
• Saturday August 24th C1M, C1W & K1M semi-final & final plus teams
• Sunday August 25th K1W & C2 semi-final & final plus teams

There are 32 nations participating including Latvia and Morocco. This weekend home nation Slovakia will field 14 boats, including Olympic champions; Michal Martikan, Elena Kaliska and Pavol & Peter Hochschorner.

Results will be available on www.sportscene.tv/liveresults where I will also be live tweeting through the semi-finals and finals.

For the latest cumulative medal table at the end of the Tacen World Cup 4 race click here.