Jessica Fox (AUS U23 K1W) topped the table for the second day in a row as the rain continued to fall at the 2016 ICF Junior and U23 Canoe Slalom World Championships in Krakow, Poland.

The talented K1W London 2012 Olympic silver medallist continued to show her podium topping speed and agility as she eased through the opening round in the K1W class at the first time of asking to replicate her efforts in the C1W just 24-hours ago.

“That was a good run, it was solid and the job was to go through to the semifinal.  Today I just wanted to paddle freely and smoothly and I think I did that.” commented the 22-year-old. 

Ever the professional,  Fox’s mind quickly switched to the next stage.

“I had a quick look at semis course and I think it changes a lot so it’s a clean slate tomorrow.”

The Czech duo of Barbora Valikova and Amalie Hilgertova followed Fox – in that order – to complete the top three qualifiers in the K1W class; neither picked up penalties and both looked strong down the Krakow channel.

France continue to show their strength-in-depth in the C2M class with youngsters Ives Prigent and Loic Kervella laying down a faultless run to comfortably qualify in top spot.


Speaking directly after their efforts the confident duo commented, “We know this course as we competed here last year for the World Cup, our goal is to win the qualification, semis and the final."

“We want to show that we can be really fast on this course. It’s our last year in under 23 so, we really want to win this championships. We’d also like to beat the two Polish crews.”

Interestingly Russia’s Vadim Voinalovich and Aleksei Popov had a faster straight-line speed than the French duo and will certainly be strong contenders in the latter stages of the competition. 

 

Local, Klaudia Zswolinska (POL) used her course knowledge to good effect cruising down the channel three-seconds quicker than the next fastest.

She was equally quick with her comments, saying, “I am very happy, my run was good and I hope I can do the same run for semifinal."

France’s Fanchon Janssen and Slovakia’s Sona Stanovska rounded out the top three qualification slots.

With only two continents (Europe and America) represented in the C2M Junior class the event has not met the required mark to make it an official World Championship.

Despite that, the Russian duo of Danil Goromlev and Artem Terin put in a World Championship worthy performance and lead the pack after the first round.

The action continues tomorrow at 09:15 CET with the C1M U23 semifinals.

K1W U23

1. Jessica Fox (AUS) 87.28 no penalties
2. Barbora Valikova (CZE) 88.84 no penalties
3. Amalie Hilgertova (CZE) 89.57 no penalties

C2M U23

1. Ives Prigent and Loic Kervella (FRA) 91.91 no penalties
2. Vadim Voinalovich and Aleksei Popov (RUS) 92.46 two seconds penalty
3. Matus Gewissler and Juraj Skakala (SVK) 94.58.57 two seconds penalty

K1W Junior

1. Klaudia Zswolinska (POL) 89.34 no penalties
2. Fanchon Janssen (FRA)92.44 no penalties
3. Sona Stanovska (SVK) 93.68 two seconds penalty

C2M Junior

1. Danil Goromlev and Artem Terin (RUS)
2. Wesley Bolyard and Miller Kaderbek (USA)
3. Jakob Brzezinski and Sztuba Sztuba (POL)

Canoe Slalom
#ICFslalom