Italy’s Gabriele Casadei completed a golden U23 double in Montemor-o-Velho – and he is now setting his sights on becoming senior world champion with his teammate Carlo Tacchini on home waters next month.
No one could touch the Italian star as he cruised to his second gold medal in as many days at the International Canoe Federation Junior and U23 Canoe Sprint World Championships at a sweltering Portuguese venue.
After his dominant win in the men’s canoe single 500m yesterday, Casadei ensured victory over 1000m after powering home in 3:54.39.
Spain’s Pablo Crespo was his nearest challenger, taking silver in 3:58.32 as Czechia’s Adam Rudolf clinched bronze in 4:01.49.
Click here for startlists and live results from Montemor-o-Velho
It is a timely boost for Casadei ahead of next month’s ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Milan.
Casadei says he will now be focusing his efforts on delivering gold with Tacchini after winning men’s canoe double 500m Olympic silver together in Paris last year.
“I’m really proud about this win,” said Casadei.
“I did the double so I’m very happy.
“The race was very, very hard due to the front wind which was really strong, but it was okay and now I have my gold medals so I’m happy.
“I’m really confident for Milan. I don’t think I’ll be competing in the C1, only the C2 with my teammate Carlo and we are ready for it so we will see.”
Casadei’s dominant showing wrapped up a thrilling day in Montemor-o-Velho as Australia, Canada, Germany, Hungary, Individual Neutral Athletes (AIN), Italy and United States all clinched world titles.
It was also Italy’s second gold of the day as Olympia Della Giustina overcame home favourite Beatriz Fernandes to seal top spot in the women’s C1 U23 500m.
Della Giustina came strong in the final 50m as she triumphed in 2:09.22 to add world gold to her European crown.
Fernades battled hard to take silver in 2:11.45 as China's Shengjie Jiang claimed bronze in 2:12.67.
There were title defences for Caroline Heuser of Germany and Jonas Ecker of the United States.
Heuser retained the women’s kayak single junior 500m crown with an impressive performance.
The German held off Ukraine’s Varvara Semykina and Czechia’s Barbora Janotova to win in 1:56.55.
Janotova came second in 1:57.57, with Semykina clocking 1:59.34 for bronze.
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“I am really happy about the race, it was hard, but I made it again,” said Heuser.
“It’s my last year in juniors and I showed that I can win the 500m again. This is not only for me, this is for my grandpa.”
Ecker pulled off a superb performance from lane one to win the men’s K1 U23 1000m title for a second successive year.
The Paris 2024 Olympian secured gold in 3:35.69 as Germany’s U23 European champion Tobias Hammer claimed silver in 3:36.81 and Denmark’s Nikolaj Bryde crossed in 3:40.27 for bronze.
“It feels like a bit of a whirlwind,” said Ecker.
“Last time when I won in Plovdiv, we moved into the Olympic Village the next day so I will have a little more time to let it sink in but I’m still racing tomorrow in the 500m.
“I am just out here having fun in a boat so we will see what happens.”
There were hopes of a US double when Audrey Harper burst into the lead in the women’s C1 junior 500m only to be overhauled.
AIN paddler Anastasiia Romaniuk produced a powerful second half of the race to win in 2:11.71.
The difference between first and second was a mere 0.19 as AIN’s Maryia Papichych finished in 2:11.91, while Harper clinched bronze in 2:12.91.
Hungary ended the day with two gold medals courtesy of narrow wins for David Barna in the men’s C1 junior 200m and Zsombor Marenec-Dozsa in the men’s C1 junior 1000m.
Barna’s victory came in the opening final of the day as he pipped AIN’s Aleksandr Mineev and Italy’s Riccardo Gabriel Caporuscio to the title.
All three lunged for the finish line with Barna triumphing by 0.23 after crossing in 42.84 as Caporuscio came second in 43.08 and Mineev bagged bronze in 0.24.
It was even tighter in the men’s C1 junior 1000m final as Marenec-Dozsa edged Germany’s Moritz Haase by 0.13.
Marenec-Dozsa, the reigning European champion, took the win in 4:03.75 as Haase clinched silver in 4:03.89 and Czechia’s Martin Novacek grabbed bronze in 4:07.55.
There was another close finish in the men’s C1 U23 200m final as AIN’s Sergey Svinarev gave everything in the final throes to take the win before capsizing.
Svinarev won in 40.71, beating Spain’s Martin Jacome by 0.28 while Ukraine’s Vitalii Prystai came third in 41.21.
Canada’s Isabel Lowry and Amelie Laliberte were a class above in the women’s canoe double junior 200m.
Lowry and Laliberte quickly asserted their authority on the race and never looked back, winning by almost two seconds in 46.05.
Chain’s Tianrui Wang and Huixin Wang crossed in 47.57 for silver, while the bronze went to Spain’s Lara Remigio and Marta Castineiras after finishing in 48.04.
There was also a clear winner in the women’s C2 U23 200m as AIN pair Yuliya Trushkina and Inna Nedelkina stormed to victory in 44.95.
Their sub-45 seconds time saw them see off Spain’s Elena Gomez-Millan and Claudia Couto who finished in 46.02 for second.
AIN’s Marina Gureeva and Ekaterina Shliapnikova bagged bronze in 46.26.
Natalia Drobot struck gold for Australia, winning the women’s K1 U23 500m in a time of 1:52.27.
Slovakia’s Bianka Sidova finished strongly to take silver in 1:52.92 as Italy’s Lucrezia Zironi earned bronze in 1:54.00.
AIN paddler Ivan Nekrasov just did enough to seal the men’s K1 junior 1000m title after a gripping battle.
Nekrasov kept his nose in front, edging AIN’s Ihar Yakshyn 0.17 as he crossed in 3:41.09.
Yakshyn took silver in 3:41.27 as Canada’s Tate Levy made a late charge to take bronze in 3:44.15.
Pictures by Bence Vekassy
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