Another action packed year ahead for freestyle

Claire O’Hara | Sportscene - 2014 is already lining up to be another exciting year of freestyle action with major events set to be held on the best features across the World. Starting off with the Nile River Festival in Africa the season will continue with the National Student Rodeo in the UK in March, followed by a full calendar of European and USA competitions as well as other events, across the globe.

This year's schedule includes many big names and large-prize money events such as the Payette River Games (USA), Go Pro Games (USA), The Natural Games (FRA), the Hurley Classic (GBR), Ottawa XL (CAN), the International ICF World Cup Series (FRA & ESP), European Championships (SVK) and the White Water Grand Prix (CAN).

There are also a lot of smaller competitions at local and national level worldwide including the 'Young Guns' Youth Freestyle Series (GBR) and World Kayak 'Hometown Throwdowns' (USA). We even have the first ever Chinese Freestyle competition happening early this year. With more events than ever being live-streamed and covered, it is now possible to keep up to date and follow the action.

2013 saw the world's top paddlers come together to compete in the ICF World Championships at the Nantahala Outdoor Center in the USA. Dane Jackson (K1M), Claire O'Hara (K1W & SQW), Jordan Poffenburg (C1 & OC1), Clay Wright (SQM), Hunter Katich (K1JM) plus Rowan Stuart (K1JW) winning Gold medals and the coveted World Champion Crowns. This was not the only important event of the year. Many other paddlers competed globally winning medals, prizes and championship titles, furthermore setting new world, national and personal records with great performances.

Visit the 2014 competition calendar. Click here to see or download all results for the 2013 Worlds.

Freestyle Kayaking is continuing to grow by the day. The Olympic showcase at the 2012 Games was a  step in the right direction for the sport. As were the developments in performance standards, scoring, media and presentation that was shown at the 2013 ICF World Championships. With freestyle still one of the fastest growing disciplines in paddlesport, it is no surprise that the standard keeps on rising. From the spectacular big wave surfing of the Grand Prix to the technical timed challenge of the ICF events, this is one of the most exciting disciplines of kayaking; both to watch and to take part in. 

Below an insight into who's who and what to watch out for out on the scene this year.

C1M
Jordan Poffenburg (USA), at only 19 years old Jordan, is the force to be reckoned with in a C1. Not only is Jordan dominating the C1 and OC1 freestyle classes, he is also making a name for himself on the creeks. As the current No 1 he does have some strong competition though, most noticeably from the rest of the USA team. At the 2013 World Championships Team USA took 1st, 2nd , 3rd and 4th in the finals with exceptional performances also from Dane Jackson, Tad Dennis and Seth Chappell. However, in Europe it was Lukas Cervinka who won the Euro Cup Series. Watch as they all battle it out in on the World Cup Circuit in Europe in the summer this year.

Jordan:

As far as the 2014 competition season goes. I'm definitly excited to get back into the competition season after a year in school. I am very ready to get back into training and try progress my paddling as much as possible. It was really amazing to win worlds, though I definitely feel like I have a lot more to improve on.

K1M
Dane Jackson; a name we should all be familiar with by now. Moving up from the Juniors to the seniors this year, Dane showed his true form winning numerous events throughout the year, climaxing with him winning his first Senior World Championship crown and retaining his White Water Grand Prix title. Despite this he is not on his own as there are a whole host of extremely talented paddlers battling against him, there was only a matter of 7 points between first and second place at this years worlds. Peter Csonka (SVK), Stephen Wright (USA), Nick Tourtman (CAN), Jason Craig (USA), Mathieu Dumoulin (FRA), Bren Orton (UK), Ben Marr (USA), James Bebbington (UK), Brian Kirk (USA) to name but a few are some of the paddlers who will be making life as hard as possible for Dane to continue his winning streak in 2014.

The standard of men's paddling is going through the roof with new combos and links being invented day after day, in addition new high scores are being set at events around the world. With the 2,000 point mark having now been broken (USACK rules) it is exciting to imagine where the sport will next.

K1W
Claire O'Hara (GBR) once again dominated the ICF World Championships in 2013 defending her two World Championships title in both freestyle and ladies squirt boating to become the most successful female freestyle kayaker in history. Like Dane she was not alone, there was close competition from other nationalities; Japanese paddler Hitomi Takaku almost took the crown with some impressive rides in the final round. In the Grand Prix it was young French paddling super star Nouria Neuman who stole the show once again defending her Grand Prix crown with some speculator displays of athleticism on some exceptionally challenging whitewater. Then in Europe Nina Csonkova, (SVK) had many consistent performances to take the European Cup Series win.

In 2014 we will see Emily Jackson return after having her baby, she will no doubt be looking to challenge the top ladies in the sport, not forgetting the current European Champion Marlene Devillez (FRA). The depth of field of talented female athletes has never been stronger so it will be no surprise that the standards will continue to rise dramatically as the ladies compete and push the limits on the on the world freestyle tour.

Squirt
The 2013 World Championships saw the boys against the girls with a closely-fought final between Clay Wright, Dane Jackson and Claire O'Hara showcasing the best of ICF competitive squirt boating in the world. For the first time the 1,300 point barrier was broken by Cay Wright who set a new world record high score. Under water new records were also set with the Mystery World Champion Taft Sibley (USA) raising the bar with several 38 second+ rides setting a new competition time. Claire O'Hara also set a new women's world record with a 24 second paddle and over on the Cheat River where squirt boating was first founded, Zach Parker set a new world record with a 59 second mystery ride under the watchful eye of Squirt Boating creator and legend Jim Snyder. The 1-minute mystery barrier still remains untouched (just), no doubt that will be smashed in 2014.

Junior men and women
We have already mentioned the increases in level of participation that have been made by the seniors. Now this has a lot to do with the sheer talent and skill that is coming up from the Junior categories, across the field. The standard of the youth is currently phenomenal and they are putting the pressure on the seniors to keep on improving themselves. Hunter Katisch (USA) at only 17 years old, did performances in the last worlds that would have placed him the top 5 of the men, as did Dane Jackson at the previous worlds. In the Junior Women's the World Championship finalists Rowan Stuart (USA), Nuria Fontane Maso (ESP) and Kim Aldred (GBR), to name just a few, are now doing moves that even the women's class were not trying a few years ago.

Then behind them there is young talent such as Sage Donnelly (USA) and Tom Dolle (FRA) who are not even old enough to compete on the World circuit yet, but they are putting down exceptional rides, achieving some of the hardest most complex moves. Add to this the juniors performances in the Grand Prix and we have junior athletes competing alongside seniors as equals - hitting the most complex moves whilst surfing some of the biggest, most powerful waves in the world. With the boats now designed specifically for children as young as 5/6 years and competition series designed specifically to help them enjoy the sport and improve, it is no surprise we have such a strong young talent base. They are getting better and better, which is exciting as they are the future of our sport.

Check out this link to the UK 'YoungGuns' youth freestyle series to see what some of the youngsters have been up to: www.youngunsfreestyle.co.uk