It was a night that was as unpredictable and tumultuous as the weather at the Men’s and Women’s Quarter-Final round of the 2011 ICF Canoe Freestyle World Championships.

Peter Csonka (SVK) entered quarter-finals dead last, in 25th place, yet according to one American observer “killed it” to end up on top in first with a daunting score of 1763. The day’s previous high score was Stephen Wright’s (USA) 1696 in prelims. Wright finished the quarter-final in seventh place with a score of 1268.

Equally surprising was the upset of four-time World champion Eric “EJ” Jackson (USA). Jackson came into prelims second only to Wright with a score of 1490. Jackson’s showy 630-point third ride in the quarter-finals was not high enough to compensate for two earlier low-scoring rides. In quarters, paddlers get three rides and the best two count. Jackson’s 1093 point total put him in 11th place, five points behind Martin Koll (GER) whose 1036 was just enough to earn him the last semi- final berth.

Koll attributed at least some of his success to the boisterous crowd of countrymen that cheered loudly for him and the other Germans in the quarters, brothers Seppi and Simon Strohmeier. Simon Strohmeier advanced to the semi-finals with a fifth place quarter-final result, while Seppi did not.

Wright and Koll agreed that the energy of the night-time crowd helped make the event more fun despite occasional downpours of rain. “It’s great to have so many people out watching this late,” Wright said around 11:30 p.m. shortly after the quarter-finals ended.

The day had began some 16 hours earlier, at 7 a.m. when Organizers were forced to compress the competition schedule in order to prepare for the fact the event may have to end earlier than it was scheduled for on Saturday, if the Isar River reaches flood stage on Friday, as government officials predict.

On the ladies side of quarter-finals, weather chaos broke out before the start of the final heat as a fierce wind and rain storm blew through the venue, compelling everyone in the judge’s tent, and a few volunteers, to hold onto the tent to be sure it didn’t blow into the Isar river.

I think the chaos before our heat might have actually helped everyone relax because we were all just wondering if the whole place was going to blow away,

said Ruth Gordon (CAN). It certainly seemed to help Gordon who had a spectacular 710 point ride to help her tally 1105 points and land at the top of the results sheet.

“I certainly appreciated the lower water, it helps the moves go bigger,” Gordon said, a reference to the fact river levels dropped from earlier in the day. “But I think all the ladies really stepped up their game.”

Also enjoying a stellar ride was Great Britain’s squirt specialist Claire O’Hara with 1083. Rounding out the Top Three was another Brit, Emily Wall, with 1000 points. Defending World Champ Emily Jackson (USA) had some uncharacteristically loose rides but still made semis in fourth place with 920 points. “They certainly weren’t my best rides,” Jackson said. “My Phonix Monkeys and McNasty’s aren’t scoring so that definitely adds a challenge.”

Anne Huebner, the only German woman to survive to semis, was super stoked on the rides she put together to finish in ninth place with 526 points.