International Canoe Federation

Summer is approaching the Northern Hemisphere which can only mean one thing, the ICF competition season is about to kick off. It starts this weekend with the 2010 Canoe Sprint World Cup Series. A series of three, the first of these will be in Vichy, France where a focus on proximity of facilities for all athletes but especially for Paracanoe athletes and a renovated finish tower are all in the mix to produce a top-class competition. The upgrades for Vichy have been completed in advance of them hosting the 2011 Canoe Sprint World Championships.

This being the first International ICF event at the venue, athletes are keen to check it out. Swedish World Cup Series Winner of 2009, Anders Gustafsson, told the ICF, “I’m looking forward to Vichy which is a new course for me. I really like seeing new places and I like France so I have high expectations and think it will be a great event. Also Vichy is extra interesting since we will return for the 2011 World Championships. It’s good to check it out so I know what it looks like when I later prepare for 2011 worlds.” Max Hoff, reigning K1 1000m World Champion said simply: “Vichy, I’m looking forward to seeing it.”

Fans can expect all the stars from 2009 including Ronny Rauhe and Katrin Wagner Augustin from Germany. Competing on home ground, could this be Mathieu Goubel’s year after taking silvers at the World Championships in his C1 last year? Certainly one to watch this season is the young Portuguese athlete, Joana Vasconcelos. She stole the show at the 2009 Junior ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, and this is her first year as a Senior so keep an eye on her. Henrietta Engel-Hansen (DEN) and Bridgitte Hartley (RSA) will be back to battle out the K1 with Katrin Wagner Augustin. And the meeting of old friends is likely when Anders, Adam van Koerverden (CAN) and Ken Wallace (AUS) convene for the Men’s K1 1000m and 500m.

Aside from these main events, we will see Paracanoe events. Athletes from Italy, France, Belgium and Hungary will race in the C1 200m Va’a (both Men’s and Women’s), the Men’s and Women’s K1 200m LTA, and the Men’s K1 200m TA. One prominent Paracanoe athlete is Nandor Almasi. This Hungarian athlete lost his leg as a young boy, but it never stopped him from skiing, water skiing, playing ice hockey and canoeing.

Almasi started competing in a Kayak as a youngster and participated in the ‘able bodied’ 1977 ICF Canoe World Championships. There he raced in the K4, taking 5th place. He later went on to become the Hungarian doubles champion in 1980 as a junior paddler. He has been involved with coaching Olympic and World Champion teams for many years. Now based in Hungary where he coaches, Almasi runs Paracanoe in his home country. He’ll be racing at Vichy so watch out for him.
 

Two weeks before the Vichy event started, the Women in their Canoes started their dedicated training camp. Getting the girls together is just one way of developing this new category and it is a matter of time before Women’s Canoe events become a fully fledged and popular event at all our Canoe Sprint competitions.

The Men’s 1000m and 200m races, as well as the Women’s 500m and K1 200m will all count in the World Ranking, and points are collated from the three World Cups and the World Championships in August to decide the winner.

The World Cup starts on Friday with finals on Saturday and Sunday. The ICF will keep you up to date from the event via our website and pictures and updates will be on Facebook. Full results and daily reports will be available. Shortly after the event, interviews and highlights of the World Cup will be posted on our TV channel www.canoekayak.tv.

We look forward to the start of a great World Cup season.

For more information, check out the event website: www.vichycanoe2011.com/en/ .