International Canoe Federation

What a day it's been at the first day of finals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Cup in Szeged, Hungary. Unfortunately for spectators, the day opened with torrential rain and grey skies but this was nothing to worry about for the K1 200m boys who kicked off the day's racing. Men's K1 200m finalist Edward McKeever (GBR) summed up the feeling of the athletes stating he was feeling “pretty good” about tomorrow's final and that he was “quite fast in the semis and hopes to keep that going tomorrow”. The other British 200m boats are certainly looking strong. The K2 duo, Jonathan Schofield and Liam Heath, qualified with the fastest time for tomorrow's final. They'll be up against the Japanese and French pairs who are all looking strong.

Elsewhere in the 200m, Shinobu Kitamoto (JPN) is into another K1 final after winning her semi-final. Jo Bridgen-Jones (AUS) followed less than a second behind and will also be up against the mighty Natasa Janic (HUN) and Henriette Engel-Hansen (DEN) in tomorrow's final. Talking to the ICF Engel-Hansen is pleased but indicated she needs to concentrate on keeping calm for the final. The 200m is clearly not a distance for Josefa Idem. She came fourth in her semi-final while Bridgitte Hartley (RSA) saw a similar fate coming 7th in her semi-final. Hartley later told the ICF “the 200 is not my best event but I'm hoping to get better.” The Portuguese continue to lead races; Teresa Portela won her semi-final with nearly half a second to spare. Keep tuned tomorrow for the finals.

In the Men's C1 200m, Mathieu Goubel (FRA) experimented at the distance and made it into the final. However, it is the C1 1000m where Mathieu really shines and this event was one of the highlights of the afternoon's finals. Mathieu fought all the way with reigning World Cup Series Winner, Vadim Menkov (UZB). Vadim came on strong in the last 100m to take the gold medal spot with a time of 3.55.224 while Mathieu was a hair's breadth behind with a time of 3.55.542. This was an almost repeat performance of the 2009 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships.

The 1000m finals were the highlight so far and they were ushered in with brilliant sunshine and an appreciative audience. In the Men's K1, all of the big contenders made it into the final but it was the young Belarussian who stole the show. He came in almost a second ahead of Adam van Koerverden (CAN) and Ken Wallace (AUS) followed shortly behind leaving Anders Gustafsson (SWE) to take fourth place. Adam was pleased with his performance and his season; “So far the World Cups have been good to me, I've been paddling well and going fast so it's good”. Ken told the ICF about his “absolutely shocking season so far”, but not because of his performance. “It all started with ash clouds over Europe so we couldn't get in... and arriving into Vichy where it was just about snowing and the concrete walls, it wasn't really much fun..., it hasn't been that good but then coming here just boosts the season.”

The Women's K1 1000m saw Beata Mikolajczyk (POL) and Bridgitte Hartley (RSA) on a one-two podium spot just as they did in Vichy three weeks ago. China's Yu Zhou took the country's first medal of the day, coming in third place.

China also took a medal in the Women's K4 500m where Portugal was in the running to beat the Hungarian crew. All signs were that they could do it but the team (comprised of Beatriz Gomez, Teresa Portela, Joana Vasconcelos and Joana Sousa) were not enough to beat the Hungarian stars which included Natasa Janic and Katalin Kovacs. A surprise addition to the podium was the aforementioned Chinese K4, they just got in there to take silver leaving the Portuguese in third.

All day the crowds turned it on for the athletes, as all the competitors commented, there really isn't any place like Szeged. So when there were two Hungarian duos on the podium (first and third) for the Women's K2 1000m, the volume in the stands was off the scale. Coming in between the Hungarians were Sweden's Sofia Paldanius and Josefin Nordlow. They were pleased with their medal but told the ICF “we can maybe do better... the Hungarians were a little bit too far ahead of us, but it was a good race, we never gave it up and we're happy with second place.” Likewise, in the Men's K2 1000m, the crowd went nuts when another two Hungarian duos stood on the first and second spot on the podium. Slovenia continued their good run at the world cups with a third place and the ever improving Portuguese came in fourth.

The day closed with some exciting 5000m action. In the Men's K1, Adam van Koeverden managed a fantastic sprint to the finish to beat South Africa's Leonard Jenkins to first place by just one tenth of a second. Ken Wallace was leading for a long time but in the end could not maintain his pace and finished third. Tim Brabants (GBR) back in the canoeing fold and wanting some race practice also competed and finished respectably in seventh. In the Women's 5000m, the Hungarians were delighted to see their Canoe Marathon star Renata Csay come in to take the gold medal, while Ireland's Jenny Egan took silver. In bronze medal position was Debora Niche (GER). The fans were able to close the day's events with one of their boys on the C1 5000m podium. Gold was taken by Kurt Kuschela (GER) and the well respected Canadian Mark Oldershaw (CAN) took bronze.

Join us tomorrow to find out what happens in the 500m and 200m finals. No matter the weather, it is bound to be a blisteringly hot day of paddling action.

For official results click here. For official event website click here.