World Cup I – Szeged 2021

Sunday, 30 May 2021

Organizing an international competition is never easy, even more a week long multiple event - European Olympic Qualification, Paracanoe and Sprint World Cup –, with people from all over the world, with regular tests, cleaning and mandatory use of mask. Congratulations to the HOC and ICF for making it posible..

The crowd was still missing in the stands but not the thrill on the water. As appetizer for the World Cup, we had the European Olympic Qualification. Not a lot of places left but a lot of talented people fighting for them. One of the most exciting events was the K1 1000 Men. In the end, it was Artuur Peters and Lars Magne Ullvang – after the disqualification of the Guillaume Burger - who grabbed the Olympic Tickets. The K1 200 had also spots for contention: young talent Deborah Kerr stormed the race to add one more place for GB and Evgenii Lukantsov, two times bronze medalist in world championships, dominated the race showing he didn't lose his skills. Surprising, and yet consistent, was the qualification of the first croatian woman to the OG. Anamaria Govorcinovic came flying to the finished line and secured a place for her in the startlist in Tokyo.

In parallel, the World cup started with the Paracanoe Competition and many Paralympic tickets in dispute. Still, the stars of the competition were the ones already qualified in 2019 for Tokyo. Serhii Yemelianov won, as usual, the KL3 Men 200, being now for many years without tasting defeat – Robert Oliver was Bronze. His compatriot, Maryna Mazhula, also took the Gold in her class, KL1 Women 200, with Eleonora de Paolis and Katherinne Wollermann completing the podium. This was not a unique case, two more classes had all the medalists using Jantex: KL3 Women – Gold for Laura Sugar, Silver for Nelia Barbosa and Bronze for Katarzyna Koziskowa – and KL2 Men – Fernando Rufino de PaulaGold, Mykola Syniuk Silver and David Phillipson Bronze. Great races in perspective for Tokyo. For the third international race in a row, Peter Pal Kiss won the gold and showed that he knows the way to stay on the highest place of the podium in the KL1 Men 200 class. In the VL2, another Silver in Szeged for Norberto Mourão. Bronze for Nataliia Lahutenko in the KL2.

In the Sprint World Cup, great return for the amazing Emma Aastrand Jorgensen, dominating the race for the Gold in the K1 200 and Bronze in the K4 500, positioning herself for a new Olympic medal in Tokyo. Bronze for Deborah Kerr, who just two days earlier had won the European Olympic Qualification. The K1 200 Women's Final had two more Jantex: Teresa Portela and Natalia Podolskaya. Of course, one of the most expected races of the week was the clash of titans in the K1 1000 Men. Fernando Pimenta ended up in 3rd and showed that he is ready to fight for his second Olympic medal after the K2 Silver in London. In the end, he left Szeged with two Bronze medals after the 5K's race. Jakub Spicar,Denis Mysak and Artuur peters were also in the K1 1000 Final. Still, inside Olympic Events, Anna Pulawska was Bronze in the K1 500, Manfredi Rizza also Bronze in the K1 200 in one of the closest races of the last seasons, like Samuel Balaz, that always pulls something of his sleeve to bring a medal home, this time in the K2 1000, and Volha Khudzenka, Silver in the K4 500.