International Canoe Federation

Looking at the events in order, the afternoon kicked off with the Men's K1 200m. Ed McKeever (GBR) remained calm under the tough pressure these races bring and absolutely stormed it to the finish line to win by a boat's length. It's not often these nailbitingly quick races finish like that. Talking to the ICF after picking up his gold medal, Ed said; “I got really tired, there was a quite a strong headwind out there but I felt really solid and good.” His podium colleagues were Richard Dober Jr (CAN) (who unfortunately couldn't make it for this podium appearance as he was busy getting ready to win another medal in the Men's K2 200m) and in bronze medal position was Filip Svab (CZE).

Next up was the extremely close Men's C1 200m, where the top six all finished within one second of each other. Winners in this photo finish were Lubomir Hagara (SVK), Adam Ginter (POL) and a familiar name, Mathieu Goubel (FRA). Regarding Mathieu's performance, perhaps most impressive is that he took silver in the C1 1000m just yesterday. He didn't compete in the 500m, he just made the jump from 1000m to 200m and it worked. “The transition was not so difficult, I had the 1000m yesterday and the 200m today so I had one day to prepare... it's not the same thing but it is always Canoe and you always have to paddle fast and strong on each stroke so it is no problem for each distance.”

Over to the Women's K1 200m and we see the first upset for Natasa Janics (HUN). She was pipped by one of Portugal's rising stars, Teresa Portela by two tenths of a second. In third place was Australia's Jo Bridgen-Jones. She told the ICF, “my final was great, I like strong headwinds so I just grinded it out and got to the finish line... I train for the 500m mainly so I could go for either the 1000m or the 200m, the start is not too much of an issue for me so I go for 200m.”

The Men's K2 200m brought another surprise in the form of two Brits. Jonathan Schofield and Liam Heath took gold, while France's Sebastien Jouve and Arnaud Hybois took silver. In third were Canada's Andrew Willows and K1 silver medallist, Richard Dober Jr. The 200m events are clearly something for Team GB to be excited about. Jonathan and Liam spoke to the ICF after their race; “It's been a really great regatta. We've had a bit of a change around with our coaching set-up since we heard that 200m was going to become an Olympic event. We've been working with Alex Nikonorov a former Russian coach, and it seems to be working out really well for the whole squad. So we could come here with confidence and we've got good results.”

Another major step for the Women's C1 category was completed today as the final 9 of 15 women competed in today's 200m. It was a happy ending for the young athlete, Laurence Vincent-Lapointe (CAN). Always smiling and enthusiastic Laurence has never even competed in the K1; she is a true C1 athlete and it's only a matter of time before we see more like her. After receiving her medal, Laurence told the ICF, “I'm really happy, I was wondering if I could do a good race like yesterday. I felt good, there was a lot of rain but it was fine.” For sure, we'll be seeing a lot more from Laurence in the future.

Canada had yet another podium spot in the Men's C2, they were in silver medal position, sandwiched between two Belarussian duos. A good show for Belarussia this World Cup too.The day wrapped up with the final K2 event, this time it was the Women's turn. Portugal yet again shone as they snatched gold from the Poles (Marta Walczykiewicz and Aneta Konieczna) by just one tenth of a second. Helena Rodrigues and Beatriz Gomes literally beamed as they stood on the gold podium spot. Taking bronze was Nikolina and Olivera Moldovan (SER).

So that is that. A day that has sped by as fast as a 200m. So much action in so little time with so many athletes. The day started with Hungarian dominance but come the afternoon, it was obvious there are other forces to be reckoned with. All eyes are now on Duisburg when the full German team will be back along with the British, Hungarians, Portuguese. It will be a stonker.

Full results are here.